US stocks close lower on banking sector woes

The US stock benchmarks closed mostly lower on Friday, led down by the banking sector, and posted weekly losses following the Federal Reserve’s decision.

The Federal Reserve refused to extend the exemption that lowered bank capital requirements to exclude deposits or bonds after March 31.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell expressed his optimism about the economic outlook this year, but stressed that a full recovery in employment and inflation is still far away.

The 10-year US bond yields rose to 1.73% today, which weighs down on stock markets.

To the oil market, WTI crude April futures rose 2.4% or $1.42, and closed at $61.42 a barrel, and posted a weekly loss of 6.4%, after hitting a high of $61.3 and a low of $58.9.

Brent May futures rose 1.7% or $1.07, and closed at $64.53 a barrel, and posted a weekly loss of 6.8%, after hitting a high of $64.6 and a low of $62.07.

As for stocks, Dow Jones fell 0.7% or 234 points, and closed at 32,627, with a weekly loss of 0.5%, a day high of 32,858, and a low of 32,505.

Nasdaq rose 0.7% or 99 points to 13,215, and registered a 0.8% weekly loss, with a high of 13,252 and a low of 13,039.

S&P 500 fell 0.1% or 2 points to 3,913, and posted a weekly loss of 0.8%, after hitting a high of 3,930 and a low of 3,886.