Wall Street looks set to keep eye on Fed's rate moves

After a week dominated by a US Federal Reserve meeting, Wall Street is expected to remain preoccupied next week with the direction of interest rates in the US.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated in the week to Friday, falling 1.51 percent to 11,109.32 points.

The broad-market Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.62 percent to 1,294.83 while the tech-heavy NASDAQ composite climbed 1.17 percent for the week to 2,339.79.

Michael Malone of SG Cowen said the coming week could closely resemble the one just finished, with a market stable or lower, but extremely volatile.

That volatility, he explained, comes from investors' uncertainty about the evolution of US interest rates.

A murky statement issued on Tuesday by the Fed after it raised its key federal funds rate a quarter point to 4.75 percent has kept investors guessing, he said. The central bank signaled further rate hikes may lie ahead to contain inflation.

Because of that, he predicted, volatility would be the watchword for interest rates and bond rates, which would have repercussions on the stock market.

Another market preoccupation next week will be the approach of the first-quarter company reporting season.

Aluminum group Alcoa is expected to be the first company to report its results, on April 10.

Among the economic indicators on the radar next week, investors were expected to scrutinize the Institute for Supply Management's nonmanufacturing index for March, due out Wednesday, to read the vital signs of the services sector, key to US output. Friday's employment data for March would also be closely watched.

On the bond market last week, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury jumped to 4.853 percent from 4.675 percent a week earlier and that on the 30-year bond rose to 4.893 percent from 4.695 percent.