2014.06.2701:54:55UTC+00US stocks decline on Fed comments

US declines closed lower in the market Thursday as St. Louis’ Federal Reserve Bank head, James Bullard commented that an increase in interest rates might come sooner than what had been originally expected.

However, not only the Fed comment drove the market down. Government data also weighed the market down as it caused negative effects on US economic growth for the second quarter.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.1% or 21.38 pips to 16,846.13. Wal-Mart stores led the blue-chip loss in the 22 out of 30 components. The S&P 500 also declined 0.1% or 2.31 pips to 1,9577.22. The consumer and financial sectors paced the decline while utilities and energy finished with the best data in the index’s 10 major sectors. The Nasdaq Composite is down nearly 1 pip to 4,379.05.

The trend in the New York Stock Exchange showed that for every seven shares that dropped, eight rose. Almost 529 million shares exchanged hands and the composite volume closed in on 2.8 billion.

Chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott, Mark Luschini anticipated the Fed comment and stated that he didn’t think that today’s figures we’re that surprising other than in the context of investors that were finding a reason to sell. Amid the disturbed reactions of a lot of investors, Luschini emphasizes that Bullard has already done a similar thing before.

James Bullard is a non-voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee. He told Fox Business Network on Thursday that the Fed’s first interest increase might come by the end of the first quarter of 2015. He also said in his speech last May 16 in Little Rock Ark.

The Barclay lawsuit had caused a significant impact on financial shares making it the biggest loser in the exchange in the recent session. Barclay plummeted yesterday after a lawsuit was filed against it. GoPro rose in its market debut and ConAgra Foods climbed following a quarterly revenue for Hunt’s Tomato Ketchup maker and Slim beef jerky that surpassed expectations.