Wall Street reminded of risks as Fed mulls intervention; oil prices fall

U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday, with oil prices falling and Treasury yields rising, as Wall Street traders weighed continued economic risks and action the U.S. Federal Reserve might take on inflation.

High-growth and technology stocks such as Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc declined nearly 2%. Banks fell and were on track to end the week lower, potentially snapping their six-week winning streak. And an earnings-miss by heavy equipment maker Deere & Co. added to the risk-off mood.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.54% to 33,813.96, the S&P 500 lost 0.67% to 4,254.83 and the Nasdaq Composite declined about 1% to 12,837.36.

Europe's STOXX 600 was down 0.33%, pushed lower by data showing German producer prices - a leading indicator for inflation - post their highest ever increases in July, as energy costs continued to surge.

The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, was down 0.73%.

"When market participants start to return from their holidays and look back...they will find central banks still far from having achieved their goals of reining in inflation," ING rates strategists said in a note to clients.

"That means a continued tussle between central bank tightening expectations and recession fears."

The Federal Reserve needs to keep raising borrowing costs to bring high inflation under control, a string of U.S. central bank officials said on Thursday, even as they debated how fast and how high to lift them.

The U.S. dollar benefited from the Fed's hawkish comments, and investor caution, hitting a one-month high. The dollar index was up 0.46% at 107.9 and the euro was down 0.34% at $1.0052.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield climbed close to a one-month high at 2.983%.

Next week, investors will be paying close attention to minutes from the European Central Bank's July meeting, as well as comments by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell when he addresses the annual global central banking conference in Jackson Hole on Aug. 26.

"Incoming data, on net, suggests the U.S. economy retains fairly healthy momentum," Michael Gapen, a Bank of America economist wrote in a client note. He cited improving motor vehicle assembly and retail sales data, but noted declining housing numbers.

"Incoming data was not uniformly strong...and we note that stronger momentum will ultimately be met with additional policy rate firming," Gapen added.

DECLINES FOR OIL, GOLD, CRYPTO

Oil prices slipped after two days of gains, on course for a weekly loss. U.S. crude eased 0.1% to $90.41 per barrel and Brent was at $96.08, down 0.53% on the day.

Cryptocurrencies fell sharply, with sudden selling dragging bitcoin to a three-week low. It fell as much as 7.7% over a few minutes at around 0640 GMT, recovered slightly and then continued its downward trajectory to trade around $21,400, down 8.3% on the day.

Gold was headed for its first weekly drop in a month after hitting a three-week low. Spot gold fell for a fifth straight session, down 0.3% at $1,752 per ounce, in what could be its longest losing streak since November 2021.

(Reporting by Lawrence Delevingne in Boston and Elizabeth Howcroft in London; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)