US stocks closed lower in volatile trading after Wednesday The announcement of the general policy of the Federal Reserve (the central bank of the United States) which raised interest rates by 50 basis points According to expectations.
According to preliminary data, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 24.66 points, or 0.61%, to close at 3,994.99 points, while the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 86.14 points, or 0. 77%, at 11,170.67 points.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 149.08 points, or 0.44%, to 33,959.56 points.
The central bank raised interest rates by half a percentage point, expecting borrowing costs to rise by at least another 75 basis points by the end of 2023, as well as higher unemployment and a near-stop in economic growth.
Federal Reserve (Central Bank of the United States) Chairman Jerome Powell confirmed that the bank is not considering any changes to the 2% inflation target and does not intend to think about it in the future, indicating that it is too early to talk about a rate cut interest of the bank.
Powell told a press conference after the Bank’s monetary policy meeting on Wednesday: “We are not thinking about it, and we will not think about it under any circumstances … We will keep the inflation target at 2%, and use our tools to bring inflation back to 2%”. Reuters.
“Our focus now is really to get our policy stance tough enough to ensure that inflation returns to our targets over time, and it’s not about interest rate cuts,” he added.
