Devik Jain, Amruta Khandekar

(Reuters] – Friday’s fall in the Nasdaq was due to a decline in the rally for technology stocks. The Dow held steady while financial shares gained on increased bets about bigger Federal Reserve rate hikes.

Megacap stocks Apple Inc (NASDAQ:), Tesla (NASDAQ:), Microsoft Corp After leading a Wall Street rebound, Nvidia (NASDAQ) Corp fell between 0.5% to 1.9% The S&P 500 technology sector fell 1%, while semiconductor stocks lost 1.2%.

Wells Fargo The NYSE: rose 2.2% while the wider financial index gained 1.2%. As the benchmark, the 2.4% mark was reached. [US/]

Citibank’s economists are anticipating four 50-basis point interest rate rises by the Fed this fiscal year. They join other Wall Street banks forecasting an aggressive tightening plan against the backdrop of rising inflation.

The U.S. central banking raised its interest rate for the first-time since 2018 last week

“It’s a reflection of the new reality that investors are facing in that we’re going to have to come to terms with higher rates and in a much more accelerated fashion,” said Mike Loewengart, managing director, investment strategy, E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley (NYSE:).

“There is now this reset of (growth expectations) because of prolonged inflation and geopolitical turmoil, as well as change in policy.”

Oil prices have rebounded after the reports of fire. Saudi Aramco (SE:). The oil facility had caused the major indexes’ session lows earlier.

The market has been hit by higher oil prices and we don’t yet know what impact it will have on its production. According to Thomas Hayes (chairman of Great Hill Capital), in New York, energy prices can rise at any time.

Oil majors led the rise in energy shares Chevron Corp (NYSE:) Exxon Mobil (NYSE:) Each up 1.6%

The U.S. stock market has rallied six times in eight sessions. This is due to gains in megacap stocks, strong economic data and worries over escalating geopolitical tensions, rising oil prices and demands for more aggressive Fed action against surging inflation.

Moscow indicated on Friday that it would reduce its ambitions for Ukraine and instead focus on territories claimed by Russian-backed separatists. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces launched an offensive to retake towns around Kyiv.

12:02 p.m. ET, the was up 15.70 points, or 0.05%, at 34,723.64, the S&P 500 was down 2.39 points, or 0.05%, at 4,517.77, and the was down 111.92 points, or 0.79%, at 14,079.92.

The benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq indexes are on track for their second straight weekly gains.

Still, highlighting the defensive nature of the market, the S&P 500 utilities index, which is considered a bond-proxy, hit a record high.

CBOE’s volatility index (also known as Wall Street fear gauge) edged up after it closed at its lowest level since February 10.

For a ratio of 1.13 to 1 on the NYSE, and 1.66 to 1, on the Nasdaq, decliners outnumbered advances.

The S&P index recorded 49 new 52-week highs and five new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 61 new highs and 68 new lows.