Stocks capped a day of choppy trading on Wall Street with a modestly lower finish Monday, giving back some of their recent gains after the major indexes notched their best week in more than a year.
The S&P 500 slipped less than 0.1% after giving up an early gain and bouncing around for much of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%, while the Nasdaq composite slid 0.4%.
The indecisive trading came a day after the market posted its best week since November 2020 and as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank was prepared to move more aggressively if need be to contain inflation.
Bond yields rose sharply following Powell's remarks. The yield on the 10-year Treasury jumped to 2.30% from 2.14% late Friday.
“Powell’s comments and the bond market’s reaction to that put some pressure on the stock market today,” said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at All Star Charts.
The S&P 500 fell 1.94 points to 4,461.18, snapping a four-day winning streak for the benchmark index. The Dow dropped 201.94 points to 34,552.99, and the Nasdaq slid 55.38 points to 13,838.46.
Smaller company stocks fared worse than the broader market. The Russell 2000 index lost 20.21 points, or 1%, to 2,065.94.
In remarks at the National Association of Business Economists, Powell said the Fed would raise its benchmark short-term interest rate by a half-point at multiple Fed meetings, if necessary, to slow inflation. The Fed hasn’t raised its benchmark rate by a half-point since May 2000.
Last Wednesday, the central bank announced a quarter-point rate hike, its first interest rate increase since 2018. Stocks rallied after the announcement and went on to have their best week in more than a year. The central bank is expected to raise rates several more times this...
