Bisnis.com, JAKARTA - Bursa AS melemah pada perdagangan yang fluktuatif pada Jumat (26/8/2016).
Pergerakan tersebut terjadi seiring dengan komentar pejabat The Federal Reserve mengangkat optimisme perekonomian, tetapi juga memunculkan spekulasi penaikan suku bunga acuan paling cepat pada bulan depan.
Pidato Gubernur The Fed Janet Yellen memicu lonjakan awal di perdagangan saham di tengah pandangan ekonomi yang bullish, yang termasuk kurangnya panduan jelas kapan penaikan suku bunga dilakukan.
Indeks kemudian jatuh setelah Wakil Ketua Stanley Fischer mengatakan komentar Yellen ini konsisten dengan kemungkinan peningkatan suku bunga September. Sektor utilitas dan perusahaan telepon memimpin penurunan, sementara saham perbanka, teknologi, dan perawatan kesehatan menguat.
Indeks S&P 500 melemah 0,2% ke level 2.169,04. Adapun Dow Jones Industrial Average turun 53,01 poin atau 0,3% ke level 18.395,40. Sementara itu Nasdaq Composite Index naik 0,1%0.1 percent.
“Fischer ingin [wacana penaikan suku bunga] September tetap ada," ujar Mark Kepner, Managing Director and Equity Trader Themis Trading LLC, seperti dikutip dari Bloomberg, Sabtu (27/8/2016).
Lebih lanjut dia mengatakan Fischer tidak peduli dengan rendahnya pertumbuhan pada enam bulan pertama. Fischer mengatakan pertumbuhan lebih produktif dan memiliki cerita investasi.
U.S. stocks slipped in a volatile session, as remarks from Federal Reserve officials lifted optimism on the economy while also bolstering speculation interest rates could rise as soon as next month.
A speech by Fed Chair Janet Yellen sparked an early surge in equities amid a bullish economic assessment, which included a lack of clear guidance on when a rate boost may come. Equities then tumbled after Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said Yellen’s comments were consistent with a possible September increase, only to recover much of their losses in a final-hour rebound. Utilities and phone companies led the declines, while banks, technology and health-care shares climbed.
“Fischer wants to make September still on the table,” said Mark Kepner, managing director and equity trader at Themis Trading LLC in Chatham, New Jersey. “He mentioned he’s not concerned about the low growth we have had the first six months. He’s saying growth is more a productivity and investment story. There are light volumes, lightly staffed desks and these moves can easily happen.”
The S&P 500 Index fell 0.2 percent to 2,169.04 at 4 p.m. in New York, after rising as much as 0.7 percent. The gauge extended a monthly slide and capped its first back-to-back weekly drop in two months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 53.01 points, or 0.3 percent, to 18,395.40, after wiping out a 123-point gain. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.1 percent. About 6.6 billion shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, 3 percent below the three-month average.
Expectations for a rate increase climbed after Fischer spoke, with traders pricing in a 42 percent probability of a move next month, from 32 percent after Yellen’s remarks. Odds are now nearly 63 percent the central bank will act by December, up from 42 percent two weeks ago, based on fed fund futures data compiled by Bloomberg.
“In light of the continued solid performance of the labor market and our outlook for economic activity and inflation, I believe the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months,” Yellen said in the text of a speech to central bankers and economists in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
