By Joy Wiltermuth and William Watts
He also said it “matters a lot where we land,” particularly as higher grocery bills, elevated gas prices and soaring rents translate to stretched paychecks. “It’s probably safe to say we’re not getting to 4% too quickly.”
Fed Chair Powell has made fighting hot inflation a key focus in the past six months, including by outlining the central bank’s plans to quickly raise rates and to start shrinking its near $9 trillion balance sheet. He has said it’s possible to tighten financial conditions without derailing the economy.
On the labor front, weekly jobless claims rose 1,000 to 203,000 in the week ended May 7, the Labor Department reported.
Lynch called current market pressures the “other side of the slope,” or a reversal of when Main Street was collapsing early in the pandemic but Wall Street was rising. “I think there’s a lot of concern about earnings and a recession as interest rates rise.”
The cryptocurrency market has been particularly roiled, as the stablecoin Tether /zigman2/quotes/226258617/realtime USDTUSD +0.0100% said it performed a $1 billion swap after it fell as low as 95 cents on the dollar.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday that turbulence in the cryptocurrency market is not a hazard for the stability of the U.S. financial system, in testimony at the House Financial Service Committee, while calling on Congress to pass a “comprehensive framework” for digital assets so that there are no gaps in regulation.
Which companies were in focus?
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Walt Disney /zigman2/quotes/203410047/composite DIS -0.90% shares fell 0.9% after the entertainment giant forecast that streaming subscriber growth may tail off after better-than-forecast additions in its fiscal second quarter.
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Twitter Inc. /zigman2/quotes/203180645/composite TWTR -0.26% shares fell 2.2% after the company said two executives, general managers for revenue and consumer, are leaving the company ahea d of Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk’s takeover of the social-media giant.
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Beyond Meat Inc. /zigman2/quotes/211617595/composite BYND -5.75% shares lost 4.2% Thursday after the company said it got a revenue got a boost from the launch of Beyond Meat Jerky, through a collaboration with PepsiCo Inc., /zigman2/quotes/208744353/composite PEP +0.37% , but making the product hurt margins for the quarter.
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GameStop Corp. /zigman2/quotes/203755179/composite GME -7.09% shares gained 10.1% and those of AMC Entertainment Holdings /zigman2/quotes/200235402/composite AMC -6.30% rose 8% as meme stocks enjoyed an upswing .
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AmerisourceBergen Corp. /zigman2/quotes/201066379/composite ABC +2.92% shares shed 6%, after the drug products and distribution company’s largest investor sold off a chunk of its stake .
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Coinbase Global Inc. /zigman2/quotes/225893452/composite COIN -10.55% shares advanced 8.9% Thursday, but were down more than 75% on the year, after the company’s CEO recently repeated that bankruptcy is not likely despite the plunge in crypto assets from recent highs.
How did other assets do?
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Oil futures closed higher, with the U.S. benchmark CL up 0.4% to settle at $106.13 a barrel. Gold futures GC00 fell, with gold for June delivery down 1.6% to settle at $1,824.60 an ounce.
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Bitcoin BTCUSD fell 2.5%, near $28,500.
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The Stoxx Europe 600 XX:SXXP closed down 0.8%, while London’s FTSE 100 UK:UKX fell 1.6%.
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The Shanghai Composite CN:SHCOMP finished down 0.1%, while the Hang Seng Index HK:HSI fell 2.2% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 JP:NIK lost 1.8%.
— Steve Goldstein contributed reporting
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