Hong Kong and Australia are slated to post its unemployment rate reading for December and October to December respectively.2 Hours AgoThe Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 613.89 points, or 1.81%. The S&P 500 lost 1.56% and the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.24%.Cleveland Federal Reserve President Loretta Mester said Wednesday that interest rates have to keep moving higher even with recent inflation readings softening.
In an interview with the Associated Press, the policymaker said the Fed likely will have to take its benchmark interest rate above 5% in order to get inflation moving consistently down to the central bank's 2% goal. She noted that markets and the economy absorbed the half-point December rate hike without a problem.
"I just think we need to keep going, and we'll discuss at the [Jan. 31-Feb. 1] meeting how much to do at any one particular meeting," Mester said. "But my projections and my view of the economy is that we need to do more, we need to get above 5% and then hold it there for some time until we get inflation expectations very well anchored at 2% ... and inflation on that downward path.
The industry group said sales in November and December were up 5.3% year over year. The NRF had projected growth between 6% and 8%. The data does not include spending at automobile dealerships, gasoline stations and restaurants. The sales numbers are not adjusted for inflation.
Will add more at the open tomorrow then.
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