Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
NYSE
The S&P 500 rose slightly on Friday but was still on pace for a losing week as traders weighed the latest comments made by President Donald Trump related to the Federal Reserve and geopolitics.
The broad market index traded up 0.2%, as did the Nasdaq Composite. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 76 points, or 0.2%.
The three major averages hit their session lows after Trump delivered remarks in the White House Friday, in which he said he’d rather have National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett stay in his current role and might not be chosen to become the next Fed chair.
“I actually want to keep you where you are, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said.
Hassett had been seen as a frontrunner to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term expires in May, but prediction markets showed former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh moved ahead in the race following the president’s remarks. Traders see Hassett as the more market-friendly option to replace Powell, with Wall Street expecting him to be more willing than Warsh to keep rates low.
“Whether it’s Hassett or someone else, I think the assumption that we — at least most of us — have is that whoever it’s going to be, this person is going to certainly have a political motive and not the more traditional, trying-to-be-fully-objective mindset in regards to leading the Fed,” said David Krakauer, vice president of portfolio management at Mercer Advisors. “That threat to the independence of the Fed is certainly, you know, a concern for us and everyone.”
The major averages are coming off a winning session thanks to gains in chip stocks. Taiwan Semiconductor led the advance after a blowout fourth-quarter report. Further, the U.S. and Taiwan reached a trade agreement in which Taiwanese chip and tech companies will invest at least $250 billion in production capacity in America.
Taiwan Semi and other chip stocks like Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices were higher Friday, offering support to the broader market.
Investors are preparing to close out a hectic week. They’ve been grappling with a slate of headlines out of Washington, running the gamut from worries over threats to the Fed’s independence to heightened geopolitical risk in Iran and Greenland. Geopolitical risk was exacerbated Friday after Trump said he might impose tariffs on countries “if they don’t go along with Greenland.”
For the week, the S&P 500 was headed for a 0.1% fall, while the 30-stock Dow was hovering around the flatline. The Nasdaq was down 0.4% on the week.
Bank stocks were weak in the weekly period despite strong earnings as concerns around Trump’s call for a cap on on credit card interest rates persisted. JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America were among the laggards, falling more than 3% and more than 4% week to date, respectively.
