US stocks fall after Fed raises rates but points to possible pause on further increases

• US stocks fell on Wednesday as markets digested the latest Fed rate hike of 25 basis points.
• Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated that inflation is still high, and said the economy may dodge a recession.

US stocks closed lower on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates again and signaled further increases may not be coming.

The Fed lifted rates by 25 basis points, as was widely expected, marking the 10th increase in borrowing costs since March 2022.

But subsequent remarks from Chairman Jerome Powell may have dampened hopes for a Fed pivot to rate cuts later. He reiterated that US inflation is still high, and said the odds for avoiding a recession seem greater than than those for entering a recession.

Meanwhile, investors are also awaiting more quarterly earnings reports, with $4's results slated to be released after market close on Thursday.

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 4:00 p.m. ET close on Wednesday:

• S&P 500>$4: 4,090.75, down 0.70%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average>$4: 33,414.24, down 0.80% (270.29 points)
• Nasdaq Composite>$4: 12,025.33, down 0.46%

Here's what else happened today:

• $4 after Hindenburg Research disclosed a short position in the latter's company, tweeting that the report is a "must read" with a "karmic quality."
• Here's how the world's top investors are planning to $4
• The $4, and isn't worth more to America than "a fraction of 1%" of its gross domestic product, economist Paul Krugman said.
• $4 they purchased during the pandemic-era trading boom, according to Goldman Sachs.

In commodities, bonds and crypto:

• $4 oil fell 4.7% to $68.29 per barrel. $4, oil's international benchmark, dropped 4.3% to $72.04.
• $4 rose 0.4% to $2,032 per ounce.
• The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell 6.6 basis points to 3.37%.
• Bitcoin fell 1.5% to $28,360.