U.S. Stocks Close Lower After Federal Reserve Chairman's Statements

U.S. stocks gave up their gains to close lower on Wednesday after remarks from Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, raised questions among investors about the bank's next steps regarding interest rate hikes. Initially, market indicators maintained their gains following the Federal Reserve's statement, which raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point as expected, and suggested that it may pause rate hikes temporarily. However, during a press conference after the statement, Powell stated that "the bank still sees that inflation is higher than it should be" and added that it was too early to say that the cycle of rate increases has ended. Preliminary data indicated that the S&P 500 index closed down 27.65 points, or 0.67%, at 4091.93 points, while the Nasdaq composite lost 50.62 points, or 0.46%, finishing at 12025.33 points.