NEW YORK, June 18 — Wall Street stocks opened lower today, with the Dow falling for the fifth straight session, as markets continued to shift bets in anticipation of US monetary policy changes.

Analysts pointed to comments from St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard predicting a first interest rate hike in late 2022 as a factor in Friday’s early losses.

Bullard told CNBC that "I think it’s natural that we’ve tilted a little bit more hawkish here to contain inflationary pressures.”

The remarks came after Fed officials on Wednesday moved up their forecasts for raising interest rates.

Banks and petroleum companies have been among the sectors under pressure this week, while technology shares have done comparatively well as investors take profits on the winners thus far in 2021.

About 30 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.2 per cent at 33,429.22.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.8 per cent to 4,189.12, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.4 per cent to 14,105.40. — AFP