U.S. equity markets slid lower in last week’s holiday shortened trading week as investors continued to grapple with surging inflation data and indications of cooling economic growth.

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The three major stock market indexes posted losses last week, with the S&P 500 breaking a three-week winning streak that had lifted it to its best performance since 2020, as investors reacted to the Federal Reserve's more aggressive tone in fighting inflation.

The S&P 500 rallied into the close but finished the trading week essentially flat. For the week, the S&P 500 had slight gain (.3%) while the Dow Jones edged slightly lower (-0.2%) and the Nasdaq gained 0.6%, after the three benchmarks indexes closed the first negative quarter for stocks in two years.