Fedspeak vs. war deal: Here are the things that drove this week's stock market

The Federal Reserve gave Wall Street a reality check this week, but the S & P 500 refused to let go of its back-to-back weekly wins. Positive war developments paved the way. The S & P 500 jumped 1.1% on Thursday as investors brushed off monetary policy concerns from the session before, which caused a 1.2% drop. The Nasdaq 's 1.9% gain made up, and then some, for its prior session loss of 1.3%. The U.S. and Iran signing a memorandum of understanding to extend their ceasefire and open the Strait of Hormuz sent oil prices plunging for the week, which supported stocks. Chipmakers also pushed higher. Here is a closer look at what drove Wall Street this week. New era at the Fed So, what caused that big mid-week selloff that nearly tipped the market negative? Simply put, investors were spooked by Fed policymakers projecting a possible interest rate hike to combat stubborn inflation. Those signals came after the central bank held rates steady at the end of its two-day June meeting. During Wednesday afternoon's post-meeting news conference, new Chairman Kevin Warsh said officials are committed to delivering on the Fed's goal of bringing inflation down to 2%. Warsh cut down the closely watched Fed meeting policy statement and announced a series of task forces to reshape the agency. The market's losses intensified during Warsh's news conference Wednesday and into the close, marking the worst performance for the S & P 500 on the first "Fed day" under a new chair since 1994. …