NEW YORK, Jan 25 — Wall Street stocks fell early today following a deluge of mostly solid corporate earnings but a lower global growth forecast from the IMF.

The early losses extend a downcast trend that has persisted for most of January as investors adjust equity valuations in anticipation of monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve, which began a two-day policy meeting today.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.3 per cent at 33,918.01. The index finished higher yesterday after recovering more than 1,200 points during the session.

The broad-based S&P 500 dropped 1.6 per cent to 4,337.64, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.9 per cent to 13,599.11.

The International Monetary Fund trimmed its world GDP forecast for 2022 to 4.4 per cent, half a point lower than the October estimate as the Omicron variant of Covid-19 weighs on activity.

Shares of American Express and IBM pushed higher after earnings results, while General Electric tumbled as it signalled more inflation headwinds in 2022.

More major earnings reports are scheduled this week, including from Apple, Tesla and Boeing. — AFP