wall street stocks ended lower on monday stumbling after last weeks rally fueled by hopes the federal reserve would ease its interest rate hikes and as fresh policymaker comments failed to reassure markets the dow jones industrial average dipped 06 percent to close at 3353670 the broadbased sp 500 dropped 09 percent to 395725 and the techrich nasdaq composite index fell 11 percent to 1119622 equities jumped late last week after official data showed us inflation logged its lowest annual jump since january boosting hopes the fed might ease off its aggressive interest rate increases and perhaps not raise rates as much as anticipated fed vice chair lael brainard said monday it would likely be appropriate soon for the central bank to slow the pace of rate hikes however with inflation still hovering at its highest level in recent decades brainard said the fed still has additional work to do both on raising rates and tamping down prices nick reece of merk investments noted that big swings like those seen in major stock indexes last week can happen in a bear market i dont think this is a rally that you can really believe in so i feel like the path of least resistance is still lower he told afp investors are awaiting earnings reports from major retailers including walmart target and home depot which will serve as a proxy for consumer demand walmart which is set to report earnings on tuesday before the market opens closed nearly three percent lower