Wall Street stocks ended the week on a downcast note on Friday (Mar 15), with all three major indices retreating as traders looked ahead to next week’s US central bank interest-rate decision.

The Federal Reserve is due to make the policy announcement next Wednesday at the end of a two-day meeting, with all eyes on signs of when the first rate cut could take place.

While the Fed has signalled it is likely to start lowering rates this year, hotter than expected wholesale price data and consumer inflation has reignited concerns that cuts could come later than anticipated.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5 per cent to 38,714.77.

The broad-based S&P 500 Index lost 0.7 per cent to 5,117.15, while the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.0 per cent to 15,973.17.

“We’ve an inflation environment that is taking us from six (rate) cuts down to three and there is current belief that the Fed wants to stay with the three cuts,” said Jack Ablin of Cresset Capital.

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He added that with inflation being “much more stubborn” than expected, he would also be watching for signs of how the central bank is interpreting recent economic data.

Among individual companies, shares of Microsoft were down 2.1 per cent.

Other major tech names such as Apple, Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet also lost ground.

Chipmaker Nvidia’s shares edged down 0.1 per cent. AFP