Stocks decline with tech shares; dollar weakens as Fed rate cut in view

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Major stock indexes fell on Friday, with technology shares including Dell Technologies leading declines, while the dollar weakened against the euro after U.S. inflation data kept alive expectations of a September interest rate cut.

Dell dropped 8.9% after it reported results late Thursday that included high manufacturing costs for artificial intelligence-optimized servers. Other AI-related shares fell in the broader tech selloff including Nvidia, down 3.3%, and Broadcom, down 3.6%. The Nasdaq fell more than 1% and the S&P 500 technology index fell 1.6%.

The U.S. Commerce Department said on Friday its Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE) rose 0.2% in July, versus an unrevised 0.3% increase in June and matching the estimate of economists polled by Reuters.

In the 12 months through July, PCE inflation increased 2.6% after climbing 2.6% in June. Stripping out the volatile food and energy components, the so-called core PCE Price Index increased 0.3% last month. That followed a 0.3% rise in core inflation in June.

"You have to love it when a plan comes together. Today's numbers on both the personal consumption, expenditure, and income, and spending, were right down the middle of the fairway," Art Hogan, chief markets strategist for B. Riley Wealth in Boston, said via email.

"This leaves the door wide open for the Fed to cut rates in September and likely again in October and in December."

Traders are now pricing in 89% odds of a cut by the Federal Reserve next month, up from 84% before the data. 

Traders had increased bets on more cuts after Fed Chair Jerome Powell last Friday adopted an unexpectedly dovish tone.

The euro was last up 0.11% at $1.1696. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.09% to 97.79.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 92.02 points, or 0.20%, to 45,544.88, the S&P 500 fell 41.60 points, or 0.64%, to 6,460.26 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 249.61 points, or 1.15%, to 21,455.55.

"Today is just weakness in the top of the market, in tech," said Zachary Hill, head of portfolio management at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

For the month, the S&P 500 rose 1.9%, the Dow rose 3.2% and the Nasdaq added 1.6%.

Major U.S. financial markets will be closed for the Labor Day holiday on Monday.

European shares closed lower, hitting their lowest in over two weeks, weighed down by British banks. Data released on Friday also showed French consumer prices rose slightly less than anticipated in August while Spain's European Union-harmonized 12-month inflation rate was steady at 2.7%.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell 4.77 points, or 0.50%, to 951.57. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.64%.

In Treasuries, longer-dated yields edged higher as traders closed positions ahead of the long weekend and repositioned for month-end. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 1.6 basis points to 4.223%.

The two-year note yield was last down 1.6 basis points on the day at 3.619%. It has fallen 33 basis points this month, the most in a year.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller on Thursday said he wanted to start cutting interest rates next month and "fully expects" more rate cuts to follow, to bring the Fed's policy rate closer to a neutral setting.

Investors are keen to see U.S. jobs data for August, which is due next Friday.

They also are watching for more news on U.S. President Donald Trump's attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook.

A federal judge said on Friday she would set an expedited briefing schedule in Cook's bid to temporarily block Trump from firing her while she pursues a lawsuit that says he has no valid reason to remove her.

Oil prices were lower. U.S. crude fell 59 cents to settle at $64.01 a barrel and Brent declined 50 cents to settle at $68.12. Spot gold rose 0.88% to $3,446.75 an ounce. 

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch in New York. Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak in New York, Noel Randewich in San Francisco and Marc Jones in London. Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Mark Potter and Cynthia Osterman)