Another choppy session with mixed performances from the major indices following Powell comments this morning.

The Federal chairman offered hawkish remarks at the ECB summit, reiterating that the Fed is committed to bringing down inflation  to 2%, and will not allow the economy to move to a highly inflationary environment. Powell’s words show that the Fed remains focused on taming sky-high inflation, signaling that policy makers have every intention of moving ahead with hiking interest rates in the coming months, even if the move means some pain and a hard landing for the economy. On this note, Cleveland Fed President Mester said she would advocate for another 75bps rate hike in July if conditions remain unchanged.

Only safe-haven sectors Consumer Staples and Healthcare are in the green. Energy and Materials are the worst performers.

Downgrades are the new norm, most recently JP Morgan JPM) reduced estimates and price targets in many oversold names in Technology.

Breadth is messy. Decliners outpacing advances almost 2-1 on the NYSE, and down volume is five times greater than the up volume.  

All eyes tomorrow will be watching and waiting for the PCE deflator.