US stocks try to rebound from losses before Fed chair's key speech

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - US stock exchanges opened with slight gains on Friday, trying to recover from the previous day's massive losses, as investors await the Federal Reserve chair's much-anticipated speech.

The Dow Jones was up 195 points, or 0.57%, to 34,293 at 0939EDT (1339GMT). The blue-chip index dove 373 points, or 1.08%, on Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 22 points, or 0.51%, to 4,399 after the index fell 59 points, or 1.35%, in the previous session.

The Nasdaq increased 66 points, or 0.49%, to 13,529 at the time. The tech-heavy index plummeted 257 points, or 1.97%, the previous day.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell, in his speech later Friday at the annual three-day Jackson Hole symposium, may leave the door open for more interest rate increases.

To fight record inflation, which soared to a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2022, the Fed has undertaken one of the most aggressive monetary tightening in history. It raised interest rates by a total of 425 points in seven hikes last year, which were followed by 25 basis points apiece on Feb. 1, March 22, May 3, and most recently July 26.

The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, lost 2.7% to 16.74, while the 10-year US Treasury yield increased 0.3% to 4.243%.

The dollar index added 0.07% to 104.06 and the euro fell 0.04% to $1.0804 against the greenback.

Precious metals were mixed, with gold losing 0.1% to $1,914 per ounce and silver gaining 0.1% to $24.16.

Oil prices were up around 1.2%, with global benchmark Brent crude at $84.30 per barrel and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate at $80.04.