The S&P 500, which groups the top 500 stocks on the New York Stocks Exchange, settled down almost 12 points, or 0.3%, at 4,444.
The Nasdaq Composite Index, led by Big Tech names such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google, finished down 78 points, or 0.5%, at 14,970.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, comprising mostly industrial stocks, was the only major index that bucked Monday’s lower trend, closing up 71 points, or 0.2%, at 34,869.
“It's been an interesting start to the week as equity markets made strong gains early in the day before giving most back,” Craig Erlam, an analyst at online trading portal OANDA, said. “Policymakers are continuing to grapple with rising inflation which is both higher and potentially less transitory than previously anticipated, [making] life very uncomfortable for central banks.”
Fed Governor Lael Brainard said Monday that any attempt by the central bank to taper its long-running economic stimulus should not mean an automatic rate hike would follow.
The question of when the Fed ought to taper its stimulus and raise interest rates has been hotly debated in recent months as economic recovery conflicts with a resurgence of the coronavirus’ Delta variant.
The Fed’s stimulus program and other monetary accommodations have been blamed for aggravating price pressures in the United States. The central bank has spent an estimated $2.2 trillion in propping up the US economy with its stimulus program since the COVID-19 outbreak. It has also kept rates unchanged at between zero and a quarter percent over the past 18 months.
At his news conference after the Fed’s September policy meeting last week, Chairman Powell suggested mid-2022 as an appropriate target for concluding the central bank’s monthly bond-buying of $120 billion. The Fed’s so-called dot-plot plan also called for interest rates to be raised any time next year onwards, he said.
Powell is due to update the US Senate on Tuesday on the Fed’s latest policy decisions and how they would help shield and grow the economy from the near two-year-old pandemic. What he says could lead to a reexamination of the Fed’s targets.