U.S. stocks are falling as investors weigh outlook on rates

By Liz Moyer 

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were falling as investors considered the chances of more interest rate increases in the coming months.

At 11:09 ET (16:09 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 108 points or 0.3%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.8%, and the NASDAQ Composite was down 1.3%.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that it will take a while to bring inflation in check, though he acknowledged disinflationary forces were at work after successive rate hikes last year. Last week, the Fed raised rates by another quarter of a percentage point.

Futures traders are forecasting another quarter-point hike in March and another in May, pushing the benchmark rate above 5%. Fed officials have also forecast the terminal rate to reach above 5%.

Several Fed officials are expected to speak this week, including New York Fed President John Williams, who appeared at a conference today. He said financial conditions look to be in line with what policymakers want to see.

Investors were also focused on corporate earnings. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) will report later today. Shares of Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER) were up 1.1% after the ride-hailing app beat expectations for fourth quarter earnings and sales.

Shares of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) rose 0.6% after it revealed a generative artificial intelligence capability to its Bing search engine. Generative AI has become a hot topic since OpenAI's ChatGPT sprang onto the scene.

Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) shares fell 2.9% after U.K. antitrust regulators said its planned merger with Microsoft could harm competition.

Oil rose. Crude Oil WTI Futures were up 0.9% to $77.87 a barrel, while Brent Oil Futures crude rose 0.7% to $84.29 a barrel. Gold Futures rose 0.1% to $1,887.