US stock markets finished unchanged for the month of May, after closing slightly lower on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones fell 0.7%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.6% and the Nasdaq was down 0.4% with the backdrop of an unprecedented meeting between Fed Chair Jerome Powell and President Joe Biden to discuss the challenge of inflation.
Consumer sentiment continues to weaken, hit by higher oil prices with the economy at risk of boiling over as Fed members flag more aggressive rate hikes despite weakening demand for goods.
It was a tough month for retailers with the likes of Target (NYSE: TGT) falling heavily as inventories soared just as demand for products shifted to services.
On the positive side was Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) with the company up 6% in after-hours trading after reporting a double-digit jump in revenue but a shrinking profit.
Chinese stocks including Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) and JD.Com (NASDAQ: JD) continued to rally as lockdowns come to an end while Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) jumped 4% after approving its stock split.
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is expected to trickle higher when the market opens this morning. For a round-up of the latest news, check out my ASX 200 morning report.