Finance

In his highly anticipated Jackson Hole address, Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh adopted a surprisingly aggressive stance on persistent inflationary pressures. Following his remarks, market expectations for an interest rate hike at the mid-September meeting surged to nearly 58%, up significantly from around 35% just a day prior. The shift sparked a notable rise in short-term U.S. Treasury yields, with the 2-year note climbing to approximately 4.3%.

Technology equities served as one of the primary drags on the market, experiencing profit-taking after earlier rallies fueled by robust artificial intelligence forecasts from companies like Nvidia. Nvidia's shares slipped roughly 4.6%, while Marvell Technology plunged over 10% amid skepticism regarding the timing of revenue from its AI chip partnership with Alphabet. Conversely, some megacaps like Apple and Alphabet bucked the trend to finish the session higher.

Digital assets faced headwinds alongside traditional risk assets as the broader market reacted to the prospect of higher interest rates. Bitcoin fell more than 3% to settle around $77,413, reversing its recent momentum that had briefly pushed it past the $81,000 threshold earlier in the week. The hawkish tone from central bankers also led to a drop in Ethereum and increased pressure across the liquid altcoin markets as investors retreated to safer asset classes.