Dow falls 174 points to close near session low as Fed holds rates steady

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday finished near the lows of the session following an update from the Federal Reserve that signaled that the central bank was taking notice of an uptick in inflation but aren't likely to increase its rate increases to more than three the market is expecting for 2018. The Dow fell 174 points, or 0.7%, at 23,924, registering a fourth straight decline for the blue-chip gauge. The S&P 500 index fell by 0.7% at 2,636, while the Nasdaq Composite Index which had been the outperformer among the main equity benchmarks due to better-than-expected results from Apple Inc. slipped by 0.4% at 7,100. The Fed on Wednesday kept a key U.S. interest rate steady at a range of 1.50% to 1.75%, saying that while inflation has moved higher, it's likely to run near the central bank's 2% target in the coming months.