Wall Street pointed lower Friday as a rally driven by the Federal Reserve’s big cut to interest rates faded and markets’ focus turned to earnings and other corporate news, the Associated Press reported.
Futures for the S&P 500 shed 0.2% before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were essentially unchanged.
FedEx tumbled more than 13% in after-hours trading after the package delivery company’s first-quarter earnings came up woefully short of Wall Street expectations. FedEx’s profit per share came in 20% below forecasts and a nearly a dollar short of the same period a year ago. The company blamed flagging demand for certain services and higher operating expenses.
Nike shares got a boost from news that the athletic shoe company named Elliott Hill as its president and CEO, replacing John Donahoe. Its shares rose 6.6% as investors applauded the change that will bring Hill, who retired from the company in 2020, back to run the show.
Shares in Trump Media and Technology Group slid 5.7% to all-time lows as the lockup period for the company’s biggest shareholder, former President Donald Trump, ended.
U.S. indices rose to record highs on Thursday after the Federal Reserve delivered its first cut to interest rates in more than four years a day earlier.
That closed the door on a run where the Fed kept its main interest rate at a two-decade high in hopes of slowing the U.S. economy enough to stamp out high inflation. Now that inflation has fallen from its peak two summers ago, Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed can focus more on keeping the job market solid and the economy out of a recession.
The Fed is still under pressure because the job market and hiring have begun to slow under the weight of higher interest rates. Some critics say the central bank waited too long to cut rates and may have damaged the economy.
