Wall Street mixed, ASX set to edge up

Critics have said Digital World’s stock is much, much higher than the businesses’ fundamentals suggest, and Truth Social has been losing money.

In the bond market, Treasury yields sank to pull back further for the week. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.20 per cent from 4.27 per cent late Thursday.

Earlier this week, the Federal Reserve indicated that it still may deliver three cuts to interest rates this year, as long as inflation keeps cooling. That calmed worries on Wall Street that several hotter-than-expected inflation reports this year could force it to take rate cuts off the table.

The Federal Reserve’s main interest rate is at its highest level since 2001, and Wall Street is hoping for cuts to begin in June. Such reductions would relieve pressure on the economy and financial system.

Continued expectations for a coming Fed pivot on rates are likely to support stocks, along with surging investment in artificial intelligence and several other drivers for the market, according to David Lefkowitz, head of US equities at UBS Global Wealth Management.

But he sees the S&P 500 ending the year close to where it is now, after it’s already leaped nearly 10 per cent so far in 2024.

In stock markets abroad, indexes tumbled 2.2 per cent in Hong Kong and 0.9 per cent in Shanghai but moved more modestly elsewhere in mixed trading across the rest of Asia and Europe.

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