NEW YORK, Dec 16 — Wall Street stocks fell early today, extending a rough period as markets fixate on recession risks given central bank interest rate increases.

Equities in New York have been in the red since the Federal Reserve on Wednesday hiked interest rates again and said it planned more increases to address inflation.

That posture has exacerbated global growth worries, especially after the European Central Bank and other central banks yesterday followed the Fed with their own rate hikes.

"You have a market that’s looking at a recession and difficulties with earnings,” said Quincy Krosby of LPL Financial.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.6 per cent at 32,995.85.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.6 per cent to 3,873.45, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.1 per cent at 10,798.34.

Among individual companies, Adobe jumped 6.7 per cent as it reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and projected solid sales growth for the 2023 fiscal year.

Chief Financial Officer Dan Dum said strong demand for Adobe products will allow the software company to "capture the massive opportunities in 2023 and beyond.” — AFP