• Stock indexes retreated as investors digested Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments on Thursday.
• The odds of a 25 basis point rate cut in December fell sharply after Powell’s address.
• Bond yields also rose on the comments and amid signs of economic strength.

US stocks tumbled on Friday morning as Wall Street scaled back expectations for a December rate cut.

The tapering began Thursday afternoon after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated the central bank would take time to ease policy, citing continued U.S. economic strength.

“The economy is not sending any signal that we need to rush to lower rates,” he said.

The odds of a 25 basis point rate cut fell to less than 60% shortly after Powell’s comments from 80%, calculated by CME FedWatch tool. The probability remained lower, around 58%, on Friday morning.

Also impacting rate cut expectations is some encouraging economic data. New figures on Friday showed US retail sales rose in October, boosted by a rise in car purchases.

As the three major indexes headed for their first week of losses since the election, bond yields rose. The 2-year yield — the most sensitive to short-term rate forecasts — rose 7 basis points over the past two days.

Here’s where U.S. indexes were shortly after the opening bell at 9:30 a.m. on Friday:

Here’s what else is going on:

In commodities, bonds and crypto:

• Oil markets fell. West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 0.96% to $68.04 a barrel. Brent crudethe international reference indicator, fell by 0.94% to 71.88 dollars a barrel.
• Gold it was basically flat at $2,572 an ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury rose 4 basis points to 4.459%.
• Bitcoin rose 2.28% to $90,053.