U.S. stocks drop as sell-off continues on Wall Street

NEW YORK, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks fell on Monday, building on the losses they had suffered in the prior week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 184.41 points, or 0.57 percent, to 32,098.99. The S&P 500 declined 27.05 points, or 0.67 percent, to 4,030.61. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 124.04 points, or 1.02 percent, to 12,017.67.

Nine of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in red, with technology and real estate down 1.28 percent and 0.87 percent, respectively, leading the laggards. Energy and utilities rose 1.54 percent and 0.25 percent, respectively.

On Friday, Wall Street suffered a major setback, which saw the Dow shed more than 1,000 points, following U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's hawkish remarks.

In a speech at the central bank's Jackson Hole symposium, Powell said it would likely be necessary to keep monetary policy restrictive "for some time" to bring inflation back under control.

"The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy," he said.

The comments pushed back against recent market hopes that the Fed would soon reverse course.

For the week ending Aug. 26, the Dow sank 4.2 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq lost 4 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively.