By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com -- The Dow fell Friday as data showing inflation continued to run hot stoked the prospect of a more hawkish Federal Reserve ahead of its meeting next week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.91%, or 305 points, the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.70%, and the S&P 500 fell 0.74%.
The Labor Department said Friday its producer price index for final demand increased 0.4% last month, above economists' forecasts. In the 12 months through November, the PPI rose by 7.4%.
The upside surprise in inflation stoked investor jitters about the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy remaining hawkish for longer, with just days to go until the Fed's Dec. 13-14 meeting.
Heading into the Fed’s meeting next week, recession fears have dominated attention this week following a deeper inversion in the Treasury yield curve, a traditional recession alarm, that will likely weigh on stocks.
“It's still going to take a bit of time for elevated inflation to get resolved,” David Keller at StockCharts told Investing.com's Yasin Ebrahim in an interview on Friday. “That combined with the inverted yield curve and high probability of recession being the issue going into next year, I’m expecting further inflationary pressures and further downside for risk assets from here,” Keller added.
Tech stocks ended flat as Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) ran out of steam.
Chip stocks ended lower despite an almost 3% gain in Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) after the chipmaker delivered a bright outlook on revenue following better-than-expected results.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) climbed more than 3% adding to its recent gains after Wells Fargo upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight. Cowen also said Netflix was its "top pick" for 2023.
DocuSign (NASDAQ:DOCU) reported better-than-expected quarterly results, driven by stronger-than-expected growth in billings, sending its shares more than 12% higher.
“This quarter [was] a step-in-the-right direction [for Docusign],” Wedbush said, but added that there was still “lots of ground to make up to meet its long-term targets and regain the Street's confidence with a more difficult operating environment on the horizon.”
Energy, however, was the biggest drag on the market falling more than 2% as oil prices settled lower to wrap up their worst week since March.
Oil prices fell 10% this week, driven by an “increase in Russian oil supply ahead of the EU embargo and doubts about the effectiveness of the price cap,” Commerzbank said in a note, citing Bloomberg’s estimate that Russian oil production reached an eight-month high in November.
Schlumberger NV (NYSE:SLB) and Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) were down 5%, while Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN) slipped 4%.