Wall St falls on mixed economic data, Fed official’s hawkish view
Live MintUS stock indexes fell on Thursday as mixed economic data and hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve official fueled concerns that the central bank may not ease its aggressive policy tightening. St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said rate hikes so far "have had only limited effects on observed inflation," and that the central bank needs to continue raising interest rates by at least another full percentage point. Bullard's comments come as strong retail sales numbers on Wednesday stoked concerns that the Fed would keep raising borrowing costs, even as evidence of cooling inflation gives the central bank room to reduce the size of its rate hikes. Data showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, indicating a still tight labor market that allows Fed room for further tightening, denting market sentiment.