Dow tumbles 300 points, S&P 500 skids 1.3% as investors eye Fed response to strong U.S economic data

U.S. stocks fell Monday to kick off a fresh week, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both down more than 1.2% heading into midday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
+1.00%
was down about 299 point, or 0.9%, trading near 34,134, while the S&P 500 index
SPX,
+1.30%
was off 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
+2.19%
was 1.4% lower, according to FactSet. Stocks were lower on fears that the Federal Reserve might need to be more aggressive in 2023
in tightening monetary policy than previously expected to tame high inflation, given that the U.S. economy has proven relatively resilient to the Fed’s aggressive pace of rate hikes already this year. The 10-year Treasury yield also was marching higher, up 7 basis points to about 3.58% on Monday, while the shorter 2-year Treasury rate was at 4.36%.