Stocks fall after Powell says Fed could deliver bigger rate hikes, but end off session lows

U.S. stocks fell Monday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said policy makers could lift interest rates by more than a quarter of a percentage point in future meetings as they battle inflation that was already running too high before the Russia-Ukraine war pushed up commodity prices. Equities finished well off session lows, however, trimming losses ahead of the closing bell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.58% ended with a loss of around 202 points, or 0.6%, near 34,553, according to preliminary figures, after falling more than 400 points at its session low. The S&P 500 SPX, -0.04% finished around 2 points lower, a loss of less than 0.1%, near 4,461, while the Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.40% shed around 55 points, or 0.4%, to close near 13,838.