US stocks fall, led by tech shares as investors prepare for another Fed rate hike

• Tech stocks led the market lower on Monday as investors brace for the Fed to hike interest rates again.
• Chairman Jerome Powell is expected to boost rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday.
• Mega-cap tech companies Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta will release earnings this week.

US stocks fell on Monday, with technology stocks leading the decline as investors brace for a key Federal Reserve interest rate decision and mega-cap tech earnings later this week.

The catalysts should make for a volatile week ahead, with the Federal Reserve slated to hike interest rates at its FOMC meeting on Wednesday. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is expected to boost rates by 25 basis points, in what could be one of the last increases of the current cycle.

Amid the expected Fed rate hike, mega-cap tech companies will be reporting earnings results, with Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta all slated to release results. Microsoft reported earnings last week and offered a weaker-than-expected outlook.

Of the 145 S&P 500 companies that have reported fourth-quarter earnings so far, 68% beat profit estimates by a median of 5%, according to data from Fundstrat.

Here's where US indexes stood at the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Monday:

• S&P 500: 4,017.77, down 1.30%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 33,717.09, down 0.77% (260.99 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 11,393.81, down 1.96%

Here's what else is happening this morning:

• Natural gas prices fell 6% to set a fresh 21-month low amid mild winter temperatures in parts of the US and a rise in supply.
• Ford fell 3% after it became the first automaker to respond to Tesla's recent electric vehicle price cuts with price cuts of its own.
• The plunge in Adani Group stocks has exceeded $70 billion following the release of a short report from Hindenburg Research.
• Adani Group has responded to Hindenburg with a 413-page rebuttal that attacks the short-seller report as "nothing but a lie."
• Baidu stock rose 2% on Monday after the Chinese search giant said it would launch its own competitor to ChatGPT.

In commodities, bonds and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 2.43% to $77.74 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, dropped 2.22% to $84.74.
• Gold rose 0.47% to $1,938.40 per ounce.
• The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed four basis points to 3.55%.
• Bitcoin fell 4.44% to $22,666, while ether dropped 5.57% to $1,545.