U.S. Stocks Open Higher; Twitter Sinks as Musk Says Deal ‘On Hold’
2022.05.13 17:02
By Liz Moyer
Investing.com — U.S. stocks opened higher on Friday, a day after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged in a radio interview that the journey to a soft landing for the economy might not be without some pain.
At 9:47 AM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 248 points or 0.8%, while the S&P 500 was up 1.2% and the NASDAQ Composite was up 2.2%.
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) shares tumbled 11% in early trading after Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO and billionaire Elon Musk said his $44 billion deal to take the social media company private was on hold.
Powell told NPR’s Marketplace in an interview Thursday that his goal of calming inflation while maintaining high employment without tipping the economy into recession “may actually depend on factors that we don’t control.” He also said with the benefit of hindsight, the Fed might have been better off raising rates sooner. The Fed has raised rates twice this year and is expected to continue to raise them.
The Senate confirmed Powell in an 80-19 vote to continue as Fed chair for a second term.
Meme stock shares bounced. GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME) traded 15% higher, and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC) shares rose 8%.
Oil also rose. Crude Oil WTI Futures was up 2.2%, to $108.44 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures crude rose 2%, to $109.65. Gold Futures was down 1.2%, to $1801 an ounce.
