Stocks fell sharply after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled that interest rates may need to go even higher than previously thought in order to tame the worst inflation in decades.
The Fed raised its benchmark rate by three-quarters of a percentage point Wednesday, its fourth consecutive hike of that magnitude and its sixth this year.
Markets had initially rallied after Fed policymakers seemed to suggest in a statement that they might slow the pace of increases. Those gains disappeared and stocks turned lower again after Powell delivered the sobering news that the Fed may need to hold back the economy with high interest rates for some time before the fight against inflation is done….