US Stocks fall after hawkish Powell remarks

The US stock market finished session lower on Monday, 21 March 2022, snapping four days of winning streak, as investors opted to secure recent profit, due to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's more hawkish tone on monetary policy and uncertainties regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index declined 201.94 points, or 0.58%, to 34,552.99. The S&P500 index fell marginal 1.94 points, or 0.04%, to 4,461.18. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was down by 55.38 points, or 0.4%, to 13,838.46.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE exchange by 2010 to 1314 and 129 closed unchanged. In the NASDAQ, 1763 issues advanced, 2991 issues declined, and 253 issues unchanged.

Total 6 of 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes declined, with bottom performing industry were consumer discretionary (down 0.76%), communication services (down 0.66%), and real estate (down 0.52%) issues, while top gaining industry category included energy (up 3.79%) and materials (up 0.85%) issues.

The pullback on Wall Street came after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell hinted in remarks to the National Association for Business Economics that central bank to move more aggressively by raising the federal funds rate by more than 25 basis points at a meeting or meetings if needed. It hiked by a quarter-point last week and signaled six more such moves this year.

Meanwhile, profit taking selloff also fuelled on lingering concerns about the Russia-Ukraine conflict and higher oil prices. Crude oil extended a rally, with Russia's war in Ukraine nearing the one-month mark and no conclusion in sight, exacerbating supply concerns over the loss of Russian crude.

Tobacco stocks turned in some of the market's worst performances on the day. Concerns about the outlook for interest rates also weighed on housing stocks. Concerns about the outlook for interest rates also weighed on housing stocks. Brokerage and retail stocks also saw notable weakness on the day, while energy stocks moved sharply higher along with the price of crude oil.

Among Indian ADR, HDFC Bank fell 1.64% to $61.85, ICICI Bank sank 1.63% to $18.67, Dr Reddy's Labs dropped 2.05% to $52.45, Wipro shed 1.87% to $7.88, WNS Holdings declined 0.61% to $86.50, Tata Motors sank 2.69% to $27.82, and INFOSYS dropped 3.31% to $24.21. Azure Power Global rose 2.1% to $19.76 and MakeMyTrip rose 0.04% to $25.35.

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