The U.S. stock market finished Friday’s trading with a fall. At the same time U.S. stock market indices declined also on the results of September and the whole third quarter.

Investors remain concerned about high inflation and attempts by the Federal Reserve (Fed) and other central banks to contain price pressures by aggressively raising interest rates. At the same time, the U.S. stock index fund on Friday was under the influence of rebalancing investor portfolios on the final day of the third quarter. Also, the market was assessing fresh statistical data that indicates the “health” of the U.S. economy.

U.S. household spending rose 0.4 percent in August compared with the previous month, according to a report from the nation’s Commerce Department. Experts polled by Bloomberg news agency forecast an average increase of 0.2%. Americans’ incomes rose 0.3 percent, as expected. Consumer spending accounts for about 70% of the U.S. economy.

The statistics also showed an increase in the rate of core inflation in the country, which speaks in favor of further tightening of monetary policy by the Federal Reserve. The PCE Core Consumer Price Index, which excludes food and energy costs, rose 4.9% year on year in August after rising 4.7% the month before.

Against this backdrop, Fed Vice Chair Leil Brainard’s statement about the need for continued efforts to fight inflation until final goals are reached sends a clear signal to U.S. stock market indices to continue the policy of raising rates.

“Monetary policy needs to be tight for some time to make sure inflation is moving toward the target level,” Brainard was quoted as saying by CNBC. – So we don’t intend to stop (raising rates) prematurely.”

The U.S. consumer confidence index rose to 58.6 points in September from 58.2 points a month earlier. Final data from the University of Michigan, which calculates the index, showed that. Preliminary data had suggested the index had risen to 59.5 points this month, and analysts surveyed by Trading Economics did not expect a revision.

• The Dow Jones U.S. index fell 500.1 points (1.71%) to 28725.51 points in late trading.
• Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 54.85 points (1.51%) to 3,585.62 points.
• The Nasdaq Composite fell 161.89 points (1.51 per cent) to 1,575.62.

All three U.S. stock indices recorded their biggest decline since 2002, from January to September.

Earlier, we reported that Asian stock markets were trading mixed.