Geoffrey Smith 

Investing.com — U.S. stock market opened lower Tuesday, as Fed officials made hawkish statements and there were increasing signs of Covid-related absenceeism throughout the U.S., keeping risk appetite under control. 

The index was at 34,526 points by 9:45 GMT (1445 GMT) and had fallen 243 points. Both were down 0.6%, and 0.5% respectively.

The gains made in the earlier premarket session were quickly reversed by Esther George of Kansas City Fed, who is a well-known hawk on its policymaking committee and said she felt comfortable that the Fed would sell bonds back to the market quicker than after it ended the previous quantitative easing program. 

George stated that “My preference is to run down the balance sheet sooner rather than later” as she plotted a course for eliminating monetary accommodation in prepared remarks for Central Exchange.

George’s remarks were disappointing for those who hoped that the Fed would ease off on cutting stimulus because of a possible soft patch in growth during the first few months due to the Omicron variant of Covid-19. This new dominant variant is causing record infections in the U.S. and resulting absences from work.