U.S. stocks were headed solidly lower Wednesday afternoon as the market appeared not to take a June policy statement and economic outlook as not supporting further buying in equities (or bonds for that matter). The decline put the Dow Jones Industrial Average on track to close below its 50-day moving average for the first time since March 3, according to Dow Jones Market Data. At a news conference after the Fed’s statment was released, Chairman Jerome Powell said he expects that inflation will be short-lived but acknowledged that it has run hotter than the Fed anticipated and could remain persistently hot. The Fed now sees 3% core inflation, as gauged by its preferred measure personal-consumption expenditure index. The Dow was down 300 points, or 0.9%, at 33,998, with the 50-day MA at 34,179.63, according to FactSet. The Dow hasn’t fallen below that average since March 3, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Moving averages are used by technical analysts to gauge short-term and long-term momentum in an asset. The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite Index also were solidly lower.
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