US stocks end lower, adding to week’s losses

 (AFP)

NEW YORK – Wall Street stocks ended decisively lower Friday to conclude another difficult week defined by worries over inflation and the worsening Russia-Ukraine conflict.

A closely-watched measure of US inflation released Friday showed the annual pace of price increases slowed slightly in August compared with the prior month.

However, the inflation rate still exceeded analyst expectations, a dynamic that will likely keep the Federal Reserve on its current path to hike interest rates aggressively. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note, a proxy for interest rates, rose closer to four percent.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday annexed four parts of Ukraine, staging a grand ceremony in Moscow hours after shelling killed 30 people in Ukraine’s southern region of Zaporizhzhia in one of the worst attacks against civilians in months.

On Wall Street, the broad-based S&P 500 finished at 3,585.62, down 1.5 percent for the day and almost three percent for the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1.7 percent to close at 28,75.51, while the tech0rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.5 percent to 10,575.61.

Among individual companies, Nike plummeted 12.8 percent after reporting lower profits on Thursday as the company marks down less-desired merchandise in North America amid an inventory glut and shifting consumer market challenged by inflation.

Carnival dove 23.3 percent as the cruise company reported a quarterly loss of $770 million due to higher operating costs and expenses. Rival companies Norwegian and Royal Caribbean also fell sharply.

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