Major stock indexes in the United States tumbled at the close on Wednesday following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's press conference, where he cautioned that "no one knows whether this process [of monetary policy tightening] will lead to a recession, or how significant that recession will be."
Earlier, Fed announced its decision to raise its key interest rates by 0.75 percentage points. The central bank also revised the 2022 GDP estimates down by 1.5 percentage points to 0.2%.
The Dow Jones nosedived 1.70% or 522 points at the closing bell, with Caterpillar tumbling 3.39%. At the same time, the Nasdaq 100 sank 1.80% or 213 points, as Marriott International plummeted 5.63%. At the close, the S&P 500 slid 1.71%, with Caesars Entertainment pulling the index down by 8.04%. The euro traded 1.18% lower against the dollar at 3:59 pm ET, selling for 0.98527.
