U.S. Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks on Wednesday signaled a probable slowing down in rate of interest hikes as quickly because the central financial institution’s mid-December assembly, inflicting blended ends in fairness markets. The S&P 500 index and Dow Jones Industrial Common closed down 0.09% and 0.56%, respectively, whereas the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.13%. Nicholas Colas, co-founder of the market evaluation agency DataTrek Analysis, wrote in a observe that as a lot as Powell is “attempting to comprise buyers’ animal spirits by speaking about persistently excessive rates of interest, markets are rejecting that message.” Colas added, “As an alternative, [markets] are trying by means of his rhetoric and assume they see the inflection level for financial coverage.”