Investing.com – Wall Street traded lower on Monday after hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve (Fed) official, while oil lost ground in choppy trade.
At 15:24GMT or 11:24AM ET, the Dow 30 fell 32 points, or 0.18%, while the S&P 500 dropped 6 points, or 0.27%, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite lost 20 points, or 0.42%.
Boston Fed president Eric Rosengren showed his surprise on Monday that financial markets were only pricing in one or even zero rate hikes in 2016, insisting that risks from abroad were abating.
"I personally expect that a stronger economy, at essentially full employment and with gradually rising inflation, will lead to more tightening than is currently priced into the futures market expectations for the next two years," Rosengren said.
The remarks came on the back of Cleveland Fed chief Loretta Mester’s hawkish comments on Friday as she said that the Fed should still raise interest rates gradually this year given the economy's resilience.
Markets await Fed chair Janet Yellen’s appearance on Thursday to gauge the dovish chief’s current stance on the future path of monetary policy.
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari and Dallas Fed President Rob Kaplan will speak after the U.S. market close.
Oil prices showed choppy trade on Monday as investors digested mixed news flow surrounding the global supply glut.
After Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Friday that the kingdom will not cap output unless Iran and other major producers do so, casting doubts over whether a highly awaited production freeze will happen, the Russian energy minister said on Monday that Iran would stop production once it reached four million barrels per day.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia was reportedly acting to slow Iran’s oils exports. Iranian ships carrying crude were being denied entrance to ports in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, according to a report by Financial Times citing traders and shipbrokers.
Crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 0.98% to $36.43 a barrel by 15:29GMT or 11:29AM ET, while Brent oil traded down 1.53% to $38.08.
With regard to Monday’s macro data, factory orders fell 1.7% in February, in line with consensus expectations but adding to the idea that U.S. economic growth slowed in the first quarter.
In company news, World Wrestling Entertainment Inc (NYSE:WWE) rose more than 3% after setting attendance and gross revenue records at its WrestleMania event on Sunday night.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares also rose more than 3% after orders for its new Model 3 electric sedan topped 276,000 since the company starting accepting deposits on March 21.