By DPA,
New York: US stocks fell Monday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said he would not rule out more monetary interventions to prop up the struggling economy.
Bernanke made the remarks in an interview aired Sunday by broadcaster CBS.
The US central bank in November announced a controversial plan to buy up $600 billion in government bonds over the coming eight months. The new round of “quantitative easing” was criticised by some conservatives and foreign governments for pushing down the value of the dollar.
Bernanke said it could take four or five years until the US job market normalises. The weak recovery could lead to additional monetary interventions, but any move will depend on economic indicators and inflation.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 19.9 points, or 0.17 percent, to 11,362.19. The broader Standard and Poor’s 500 index dipped 1.59 points, or 0.13 percent, to 1,223.12. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 3.46 points, or 0.13 percent, to 2,594.92.
The US currency gained against the euro to 75.16 euro cents from 74.55 euro cents Friday. The dollar edged up against the Japanese currency to 82.64 yen from 82.53 yen.