Wall Street loses ground as the week opens up

Most US stock indices declined on Monday as markets assess the Federal Reserve’s stance on interest rates.

The Fed decided to maintain interest rates unchanged last week at 5.5% for the fifth time in a row. 

Fed Chair Jerome Powell asserted that policymakers are preparing for rate cuts this year, with markets estimating a 68.3% chance of such a cut at the June policy meeting. 

Later today, the personal spending index will be released later today, which is the Fed’s favorite inflation index, with expectations of a 0.3% increase last month, following a 0.4% increase in January.

On trading, Dow Jones fell 0.3%, or 113 points as of 16:15 GMT to 39,362, while S&P 500 fell 0.2%, or 9 points to 5,225, as NASDAQ slid 0.2%, or 25 points to 16,404.