S&P 500 ends nearly flat, gives back gains; Fed's Powell says inflation to rise

S&P 500 ends nearly flat, gives back gains; Fed's Powell says inflation to rise

By Caroline Valetkevitch

Wed June 18, 2025 5:33 PM

All three indexes were up considerably in the morning, the Dow up some 300 by 11 a.m., then began a steady decline all day until 2:30 when suddenly all three plummeted. Yesterday, Trump very bluntly demanded unconditional surrender from Iran with a tangible threat of U.S. military attack. Today, Iran even more bluntly rejected that demand and promised serious reprisals against our bases if there is an attack. Could this announcement have come at 11 a.m.?  

Today also Powell said that inflation was expected to get worse during the summer and likely through the long haul. He blamed tariffs even though their impact has not yet been fully felt and could not be properly assessed for some time as it would be some time since the full impact would register. He even said that the Fed would be cutting rates right now if not for the uncertainty created by the tariffs. All of this created more uncertainty. However, he’s sticking by the forecast of two rate cuts before year-end but also scaled back 2026 and 2027 cuts to just ¼ point each year. Could these comments have come at 2:30 p.m.?  All in all, by close there was just modest movement down for the Dow, up for the Nasdaq, and flat for the S&P.  Volume was below average at 16.48 billion vs 17.99 billion. 

DJ: 42,215.80  -299.29      NAS: 19,521.09  -180.12      S&P: 5,982.72  -50.39         6/17

DJ: 42,171.66  -44.14        NAS: 19,546.27  +25.18       S&P: 5,980.87  -1.85           6/18

Wed 6-18-25 5:33 pm S&P 500 ends nearly flat, gives back gains; Fed's Powell says inflation to rise | Reuters