Wall Street closes lower; investors focus their attention on the Fed

US stock indices fell on Monday as investors reassessed their predictions for when the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates (Fed).

The operators will scrutinize the speeches of the officials of the Fed this week, including Chairman Jerome Powell, looking for any change in the bank’s cautious rhetoric after last week’s data showed services activity was strong in January.

“We got that explosive jobs report, and people have had to reassess what the outlook is for the Fed and the economy. Tomorrow it will be interesting to see if Powell continues his transformation from pro-tighter to dovish,” Brian Jacobsen said. , Senior Investment Strategist at Allspring Global Investments.

Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellensaid on Monday that the United States could avoid a recession as inflation is falling while the labor market remains strong.

After being hit in 2022, US stocks are rebounding strongly this year, led by mega-cap growth stocks, amid hopes that the Fed moderate its aggressive rate hikes, which in turn could ease some pressure on the stock’s valuation.

The yield on benchmark 10-year US Treasury bonds extended gains and hit four-week highs.

He Dow Jones Industrial Average it lost 34.99 points, or 0.10%, to 33,891.02 units. Meanwhile, the index S&P 500 it gave up 25.40 points, or 0.61%, to 4,111.08 units; and the Nasdaq Composite subtracted 119.51 points, or 1%, to 11,887.45 units.

Tyson Foods Inc it slumped as it missed analyst estimates for quarterly revenue and profit.

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