US stocks end lower after Fed cuts interest rates

Wall Street stocks finished decisively lower on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates but offered mixed signs on what the move meant for future monetary policy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2 percent to 26,864.27, a drop of around 335 points after earlier shedding almost 500 points.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 1.1 percent to 2,980.36, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also slid 1.2 percent to 8,175.42.

Stocks had initially edged lower after the Fed announced at 1800 GMT that it planned a 25-basis-point interest rate cut.

But stocks fell sharply midway through a subsequent news conference after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the US central bank did not expect a "lengthy cutting cycle." But Powell then went on to say the Fed was not committed to a single cut.

"Let me be clear. I said it's not the beginning of a long series of rate cuts. I didn't say it's just one or anything like that," Powell said.

Powell did not do "a great job of selling the