wall street stocks fell early monday to open a newsy week that includes central bank decisions big earnings reports and major economic data releases a focal point will be wednesdays federal reserve announcement which is expected to include a smaller interest rate hike compared with recent moves in the central banks quest to counter inflation the agenda also includes quarterly results from tech heavyweights such as apple and amazon as well as from industrial companies including exxonmobil and general motors later in the week the labor department will release jobs data for the month of january about 15 minutes into trading the dow jones industrial average was down 01 percent at 3394419 the broadbased sp 500 shed 06 percent to 404787 while the techrich nasdaq composite index dropped 11 percent to 1149481 briefingcom analyst patrick ohare noted that mondays weakness follows a heady start to 2023 that has seen the sp 500 gain six percent this month he cited a variety of market worries including the fear that fed chair jerome powell will make an extra effort during his press conference on wednesday to rein in the stock markets bullish behavior