By Gokhan Ergocun
ISTANBUL (AA) - US stocks ended the week mostly in the red, as the Dow and S&P 500 posted declines.
The Dow fell 0.32%, or 142.3 points, to close at 44,342.19.
The Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.05%, or 10.01 points, to 20,895.66, and the S&P 500 dropped 0.01%, or 0.47 points, to 6,296.79.
The VIX Index, also known as the “fear index," fell 0.67% to 16.41.
News that US President Donald Trump is pushing tariffs of at least 15% - 20% in trade talks with the EU dampened the risk appetite for investors, while stock markets has a mixed reaction.
Trump continued his criticism of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, whom he called “too late” on social media.
The president urged Powell to lower interest rates, noting that inflation is very low in the US. That contradicts data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which said Tuesday that the Consumer Price Index rose 2.7% from a year ago. That was slightly higher than expected and up from an annual 2.4% in May
The consumer confidence index measured by the University of Michigan in the US rose to 61.8 in July, exceeding expectations.
Consumers' short-term inflation expectations fell from 5% to 4.4% in July, while long-term inflation expectations fell from 4% to 3.6%.
Thus, short- and long-term inflation expectations recorded their lowest since February.