Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell's statement on the US central bank's 'commitment' in tackling inflation made the stock lose some of the gains it achieved at the beginning of the session.
The testimony Powell presented before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee also caused the dollar and U.S. treasury yields to fall as concerns over recession risk put pressure on Uncle Sam’s economy.
Looking at the index board, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 47.12 points (0.15%) at 30,482.13, the S&P 500 lost 4.9 points (0.13%) at 3,759.89 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 16.22 points (0.15%) at 11,053.08.
The worldwide MSCI gauge fell 0.49% and the pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.70%.
Ingalls & Snyder’s senior portfolio strategist Tim Ghriskey said the Fed’s comments had both good and bad sides but its key message clearly stated that the central bank would continue to raise rates as planned.
As a result, investor sentiment remained cautious and digested the impact of rising interest rates in controlling inflation on economic growth.
Meanwhile, the minutes of the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) policy meeting published on Wednesday saw the central bank's concern over the impact of the currency's continued plummeting on the country's business environment.
Currency flows saw the Yen slightly strengthen 0.27% against the dollar at 136.24.
Treasury results showed the 10 -year benchmark note rose 3.156% from Tuesday's 3.305%.
On the other hand, low oil prices put pressure on energy stocks.
S&P 500 energy stocks were down 4.2% while U.S. crude oil fell $ 3.33 at $ 106.19 a barrel and Brent oil fell $ 2.91 at $ 111.74.
