Stocks in the United States fell on Wednesday (17) for the fourth day in a row, in the face of weak first quarter economic results for US companies and a lack of expectations for interest rate cuts by the end of the year.

According to international press reports, the New York Stock Exchange's S&P 500 index, which tracks the shares of the 500 leading US companies, closed down 31 points (or 0.6%).

The indicator on blue-chip stocks, meanwhile, is down 2% for the week, after falling 1.6% and 1% in previous weeks.

With regard to the Nasdaq composite index, which comprises shares in US giants such as Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google, the figures are also negative: down 1.2%.

Since last Monday (15), the accumulated drop has reached 3%, after previous weekly reductions of 0.5%, 0.8% and 0.3%, respectively.

The government reported last week that consumer prices in the US rose by 3.5% last month, beating Wall Street's forecast of 3.4%.

The figure was well above the 2% target set by the Federal Reserve, which postponed the start of the rate cuts that were expected for the middle of the year, according to the international press.