US stock markets fall in the aftermath of the Fed chief’s comments and Trump’s ministerial appointment

Stateside the stock market week ended lower in the aftermath of the recent appointment of the health minister and the comments of the head of the US central bank, the Fed.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 1.3 percent on Friday, and the technology-focused Nasdaq fell 2.2 percent. At the end of the day, the industrial index Dow Jones was down 0.7 percent.

The head of the Fed, who spoke at a conference in the US state of Texas on Thursday Jerome Powell said that the timetables for interest payments are not set in advance.

“The economy is not giving any signals that we should rush to cut interest rates,” Powell said.

The Fed’s next rate cut is expected in December.

Many stock prices of major pharmaceutical companies turned lower after the incoming president Donald Trump said he would appoint a well-known vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy jr:n as Minister of Health.

The stock price of Eli Lilly, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company by market value, fell almost five percent on Friday.

One of the biggest fallers among the vaccine manufacturers was Moderna, whose share ended the day down 7.3 percent. Pfizer’s share price fell 4.7 percent, Biontech’s 3.7 percent and AstraZeneca’s 2.8 percent.