Good evening and welcome to Markets Desk.
Equities closed out the week on a firm note, with the S&P five hundred gaining nearly three quarters of a percent on Friday as fears of additional Federal Reserve rate hikes continued to fade. The Nasdaq led the move, up a full percent, with technology names finding buyers as rate-sensitive growth stocks regained footing heading into the weekend.
Not every chip name participated in that rally. Cerebras hit a post-IPO low, tumbling twenty percent on the week as Nvidia competitive pressure weighed on sentiment and a lockup expiration unlocked fresh selling from early investors. That combination is particularly punishing for a young public company still building its institutional base.
Pulling back to the macro picture, a sobering comparison is gaining traction in markets commentary. Falling real wages, surging energy costs, and persistent inflation are prompting some strategists to reach for the nineteen seventies playbook. Whether that analogy holds depends heavily on whether central banks can anchor expectations before the psychology of that era takes hold.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
