More Stories

Informist, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

---

Equity Alert: US indices end lower Fri amid uncertainty over next Fed chair

 

MUMBAI--0735 IST--US equity indices ended slightly lower on Friday amid concerns over the appointment of the next US Federal Reserve chair, with US President Donald Trump saying he would like National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett to remain in his position. Hassett was the frontrunner for the position of the next US Federal Reserve chair.  

 

During an appearance at the White House, Trump said he would prefer to keep Hassett in his position as the top economic advisor. "I actually want to keep you where you are, if you want to know the truth," Trump was quoted as saying by CNBC. Hassett was seen as a frontrunner for the post of Fed chair before the remarks, and has now been overtaken by former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh. Investors perceive Hassett as the more market-friendly option and expect him to be more willing than Warsh to keep interest rates low. 

 

"Whether it's Hassett or someone else, I think the assumption that we — at least most of us — have is that whoever it's going to be, this person is going to certainly have a political motive and not the more traditional, trying-to-be-fully-objective mindset in regards to leading the Fed," David Krakauer, vice president of portfolio management at Mercer Advisor, was quoted as saying by CNBC. This looms as a threat to the independence of the US Federal Reserve, which is a concern for everyone, Krakauer added. 

 

Shares of banks and financial institutions were under pressure despite big banks in the country posting solid results, due to concerns over Trump's call for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10%, Reuters reported. The S&P 500 Financials Sector index ended slightly higher on Friday but recorded its biggest weekly decline since October. Despite ending higher for the session, shares of JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. fell 5?ch for the week, CNBC reported.

 

Stocks of chip making companies extended their gains on Friday following optimistic results from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturng Co., and due to the Taiwan-US trade deal, CNBC said. Shares of Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices ended 2.5% and nearly 2% higher, respectively. The week also saw investors taking money away from some heavyweight technology stocks and investing in undervalued areas, with mid-and small-cap stocks outperforming the benchmark S&P 500, Reuters said.

 

Investors will await the earnings of heavyweights such as Netflix, Johnson & Johnson and Intel this week, according to Reuters. The US equity market will observe a holiday on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Friday:  

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	6940.01	(-)0.06
NASDAQ Composite	23515.39	(-)0.06
Dow Jones Industrial Average	49359.33	(-)0.17

 

(Akshat Saksena)

 

US$1 = INR 90.87

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

NSE: National Stock Exchange
NYSE: New York Stock Exchange
NYMEX: New York Mercantile Exchange
SEBI: Securities and Exchange Board of India
RBI: Reserve Bank of India

Internet links:
Securities and Exchange Board of India - http://www.sebi.gov.in
Bombay Stock Exchange - http://www.bseindia.com
National Stock Exchange of India - http://www.nseindia.com
Directory of Indian government websites - http://goidirectory.nic.in
Indian Ministry of Finance - http://www.finmin.nic.in
Reserve Bank of India - http://rbi.org.in
Controller General of Accounts, Government of India - http://www.cga.nic.in
Government's Press Information Bureau - http://www.pib.nic.in

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.