Friday was a lackluster session on Wall Street, with major U.S. averages lingering in negative territory at midday trading in New York. This session coincided with the simultaneous expiration of a large volume of options and futures contracts, commonly referred to as “triple witching.”

However, rather than a sharp spike in volatility, stocks edged only slightly lower, failing to trigger a rise in the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX).

Investor sentiment remained defensive, with 10 out of 11 sectors of the S&P 500 falling, while utilities were the only sector to post a positive performance.

Dovish remarks from Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller indicated that he expects “very low” August Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) data.

Waller also hinted at the possibility of a 25 basis point rate cut in the next meeting or two if the data continues to come in as expected, with a stronger size of cut if the labor market weakens and inflation softens more rapidly.

Waller’s comments sent gold surging past $2,600 per ounce, marking new all-time highs.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin BTC/USD remained stable at $63,000.

According to Benzinga Pro data:

• The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was 0.5% lower to $567.92.
• The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average DIA edged 0.2% down to $420.43.
• The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series QQQ fell 0.3% to $481.96.
• The iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM fell 0.7% to $222.50.
• The Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund XLU outperformed, up 2.1%. The Industrials Select Sector SPDR Fund XLI lagged, down 0.7%.

Friday’s Stock Movers

• FedEx Corp. FDX tumbled 13.6% on dismal quarterly earnings.
• Lennar Corp. LEN also reacted to earnings, falling over 4%.
• Nike Inc. NKE rose over 6%, following the company’s appointment of Elliot Hill as the new CEO.

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Wall Street illustration created using artificial intelligence via MidJourney.