U.S. stocks are falling as investors await Fed's Powell

© Reuters.

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were falling early Monday ahead of another busy week of earnings reports from companies including Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS), PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP), and Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER).

At 9:44 ET (14:44 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 178 points or 0.5%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.7% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 0.7%.

Investors are also awaiting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s appearance at an event Tuesday sponsored by the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., coming just a week after the Fed raised interest rates by one-quarter of a percentage point.

Powell said the Fed’s work to tame inflation isn’t done yet. Fighting inflation has been a priority of the Biden Administration in the last year, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who appeared on ABC News on Monday morning ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech, which is scheduled for Tuesday evening. Biden is expected to emphasize legislative and policy initiatives that have brought down inflation over the past year and created jobs.

Yellen said the economy remains on a path where a recession can be avoided. “What I see is a path in which inflation is declining significantly, and the economy is remaining strong,” she said.

Stocks have been rallying this year on the idea that the Fed is getting closer to ending its interest rate increases. Though stocks fell on Friday after an unexpectedly strong jobs report for January, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were up for the week, 1.6% and 3.3%, respectively.

This week, investors are also expecting the University of Michigan’s preliminary consumer sentiment reading for February and data on jobless claims for last week. 

Shares of Dell Technologies Inc (NYSE:DELL) fell 2.3% after a report from Bloomberg that it was cutting 6,650 jobs, or about 5% of its global workforce, as weak PC demand hurts results. 

Shares of Tyson Foods Inc (NYSE:TSN) fell 4.7% after chicken and meat producer fell short of quarterly expectations on slowing demand and a decline in chicken prices. 

Oil rose. Crude Oil WTI Futures were up 0.3% to $73.62 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures were up 0.6% to $80.41 a barrel. Gold Futures were up 0.4% to $1,884.