PrintUS Equity Indexes Lower After Powell Says Fed Faces a Challenging Situation
BY MT Newswires | ECONOMIC | 09/23/25 03:47 PM EDT03:47 PM EDT, 09/23/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US equity indexes were lower ahead of the close on Tuesday after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during a speech today in Rhode Island that the Fed sees no "risk-free path" to lowering rates as the central bank faces a "challenging situation" in balancing inflation risks with the softening labor market.
"If we ease too aggressively, we could leave the inflation job unfinished and need to reverse course later to fully restore 2% inflation. If we maintain restrictive policy too long, the labor market could soften unnecessarily," Powell said at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce 2025 Economic Outlook Luncheon.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 1% to 22,557.4, with the S&P 500 down 0.66% to 6,649.3, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.25% lower at 46,266.1. The energy sector led the gainers, while the consumer discretionary sector led the decliners.
The CBOE Volatility Index rose 5.6% to 17.01.
Most Treasury yields fell, with the 10-year yield down 3.1 basis points to 4.11% and the two-year rate 1.1 basis points lower at 3.59%.
Gold futures rose 0.29% to $3,785.9.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures rose by 2.28% to $63.7 a barrel.
In economic news, the preliminary September flash reading from S&P Global showed that US manufacturing and services business activity slowed down compared with August. The manufacturing PMI index was 52, lower than 53 in August, and under the 52.2 expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. The US services PMI business activity index in September was 53.9, down from 54.5 in the month prior, and lower than the 54 expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.
In company news, Boeing
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