Finance

The bond and commodities markets reacted swiftly to the central bank's hawkish policy framework. Yields on short-term U.S. debt climbed notably, with the 2-year Treasury note yield reaching 4.348%, whereas longer-term 10-year yields saw a more muted increase to 4.73%. Concurrently, higher rate expectations diminished the appeal of non-yielding assets, driving spot gold prices down by more than 3% to settle near $4,454 per ounce.

Robust fiscal second-quarter financial reports and updated corporate guidance from Salesforce and CrowdStrike catalyzed impressive weekly gains of 22% and 14%, respectively. This positive enterprise tech momentum was initially aided by Nvidia's blowout revenue forecast, though the broader semiconductor sector failed to sustain the enthusiasm. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF slid over 3% for the week as major component stocks like Marvell Technology and Applied Materials dragged on the index.

Digital assets surrendered their midweek gains following the Federal Reserve's reinforced focus on controlling inflation. Bitcoin dipped below the $78,000 threshold to trade around $77,413, despite earlier upward momentum that pushed it briefly past $81,000. Ethereum mirrored this trajectory, falling back to approximately $2,443 even as its spot ETFs logged a strong nine-day streak of consecutive inflows spearheaded by BlackRock.