NEW YORK, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks dropped on Monday as investors digested comments from Federal Reserve officials.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 497.57 points, or 1.45 percent, to 33,849.46. The S&P 500 lost 62.18 points, or 1.54 percent, to 3,963.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 176.86 points, or 1.58 percent, to 11,049.50.
All the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in red, with real estate and energy down 2.8 percent and 2.74 percent, respectively, leading the slide.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said on Monday that the Fed needs to raise interest rates quite a bit further in order to gain control of inflation and bring back down toward the central bank's 2 percent goal.
In an interview with MarketWatch, Bullard said financial markets are underestimating the chances that policymakers will need to be more aggressive next year in raising interest rates to curb inflation.
Elsewhere, New York Fed President John Williams said in a speech at the Economic Club of New York that officials have more work to do to curb inflation that remains "far too high."
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is set to speak on the outlook for the U.S. economy, inflation and the labor market at a Brookings Institution event on Wednesday.
Investors also awaited a slew of economic highlights this week, including the October U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index on Thursday, and November jobs report on Friday.
For the week ending Friday, the Dow rose 1.78 percent, the S&P 500 advanced 1.53 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 0.72 percent.
