Stock market today: Stocks slip for a second week as inflation data clouds rate-cut bets

Stocks finished lower on Friday, notching a second consecutive losing week for Wall Street, as investors weighed the impact of hot inflation prints on the Federal Reserve’s policy decision next week. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) lost 0.7%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) shed 0.5% or nearly 200 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) decreased close to 1%. All three major indexes lost ground for the week. Stocks slipped further after Thursday’s losses, which came as another hotter-than-expected inflation report spooked investors into rethinking bets on a June interest rate cut. The report supported concerns that “sticky” inflation could be more difficult to tame than the Fed had expected. With no big data releases on Friday’s docket, eyes are turning to the February PCE report — the Fed’s preferred inflation measure — for more clarity on whether inflation is cooling as fast as the central bank wants. But that reading won’t come until near the end of March, after the Fed’s policy decision next week. Meanwhile, bitcoin (BTC-USD) pulled back further from its latest record high above $73,000 to $68,000 by the end of the normal trading day. Elsewhere in corporates, Adobe (ADBE) shares fell around 14% after its downbeat quarterly sales forecast fueled worries about competition from AI startups. And Zillow (Z) tumbled 13% Friday, alongside other real estate names, after the National Association of Realtors reached a legal settlement that paves the way for home buyers and sellers to pay lower commissions.