While you were sleeping: UPDATED US stocks slide amid more hawkish talk

Wall Street moved lower as two more US Federal Reserve officials signalled they believe the central bank should raise interest rates a day before a widely-anticipated speech by chairwoman Janet Yellen at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

"I think it's time to move," Kansas City Fed president Esther George told Bloomberg. She isn't alone.

"The case is strengthening" for a rate increase, Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan told CNBC. "And you should conclude from that in the not-too-distant future."

At the Wall Street close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 33.07 points, or 0.2%, to 18,448.41, while the Nasdaq Composite Index retreated 0.1% to 5212.20.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gave up 0.1% to 2172.47.

"You know that Mrs Yellen is going to come out and say something, and you have no idea what," Ben Kumar, an investment manager at Seven Investment Management in London, told Bloomberg.

"Your sensible move would be to be a bit nervous. So there seems to be some sensible profit taking, or moving to cash, or just sitting on the sidelines."

The Dow moved lower as declines in shares of Nike and Wal-Mart, recently 1.8% and 1.5% weaker respectively, outweighed advances in shares of Cisco and those of Travelers, up 0.6% and 0.5% respectively.

Fed in no hurry
To be sure, some say the US central bank won't be in a rush to push the target rate higher.

"There is healthy scepticism about the Fed raising rates ahead of Mrs Yellen's comments," Adam Sarhan, chief executive officer at Sarhan Capital, told Reuters.

"Throughout this year they have flirted with the idea of a rate hike but, when push comes to shove, they back off and kick the can down the road."

Even so, the latest economic data offered fresh signs of strength, indeed.

A Commerce Department report showed new orders for durable goods rose a seasonally adjusted 4.4% in July, exceeding economists' expectations, while a Labor Department report showed a surprise drop in the number of weekly jobless claims, falling by 1000 to 261,000 in the week ended August 20.

"This kind of data are consistent with what the Fed is looking for in terms of the labour market and economic growth," Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group, told Reuters. "If we get more data like this, that will suggest we are likely to see an interest rate increase, most likely in December."

US-traded crude oil declined 2.8% to $US46.77 a barrel, reversing Tuesday’s gains as reports of additional crude stocks overshadowed hopes Iran could agree to a production-freeze accord.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index finished the session with a 0.8% decline from the previous close. The UK's FTSE 100 index shed 0.3%, France's CAC 40 index fell 0.7% and Germany's DAX index dropped 0.9%.

A report from Germany's Ifo institute showed business sentiment in the eurozone's biggest economy unexpectedly fell, with the business climate index sliding to 106.2 in August, down from 108.3 in July.

(BusinessDesk)