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NEW YORK, March 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded lower in the morning session Monday, as the possibility of a March rate hike increased after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's speech.
Around midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 83.90 points, or 0.40 percent, to 20,921.81. The S&P 500 dipped 13.37 points, or 0.56 percent, to 2,369.75. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 38.51 points, or 0.66 percent, to 5,832.24.
Yellen on Friday signaled that an interest rate hike in this month's monetary policy will likely be appropriate, if the economy progresses in line with officials' expectation.
"At our meeting later this month, the (Federal Open Market) Committee will evaluate whether employment and inflation are continuing to evolve in line with our expectations, in which case a further adjustment of the federal funds rate would likely be appropriate," said Yellen in a speech at the Executives' Club of Chicago.
The Fed is scheduled to hold its next monetary policy meeting on March 14 and 15.
Market expectations for a March rate hike were around 86 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.
On the economic front, U.S. new orders for manufactured goods in January, up six of the last seven months, increased 5.5 billion U.S. dollars or 1.2 percent to 470.2 billion dollars, the Commerce Department reported Monday.
U.S. stocks ended higher after wavering between small gains and losses Friday, as Wall Street digested Yellen's comments. Enditem
