'Fed showing no signs of backing off' rate hikes -CIO

STORY: Wall Street's main indexes reversed gains by early afternoon on Wednesday as hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials sparked worries that the central bank may not be pausing interest rate hikes any time soon.

Markets reacted positively to data, which showed retail sales and producer prices declined more than expected in December.

However, the gains were short-lived as St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester stressed on the need to raise rates beyond 5% to bring inflation to heel.