U.S. stocks slid in volatile trading Wednesday afternoon following a move by the Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark policy rate by 75 basis points for a fourth straight time — on par with market expectations — and remarks by Chair Jerome Powell indicating the U.S. central bank was unlikely to shift on policy anytime soon.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) tumbled 2.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) erased 500 points, or 1.6%. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) shed 3.4%.

Stocks initially rose following the announcement but lost momentum after Powell in his post-meeting press conference refuted the idea of a policy pivot in the near future, asserting it is "premature" to think about a pause on rate hikes. Powell said the Fed still had a "ways to go" and suggested that "the ultimate level of interest rates will be higher than previously expected."

“The November FOMC meeting is not about the November policy rate decision,” Bank of America analysts led by Michael Gapen said in a recent note to clients. “Instead, the meeting is about future policy rate guidance and what to expect in December and beyond.”

Luke Bartholomew, senior economist at abrdn, said in a note that new references by the Fed to monetary lags underscores concerns that the full impacts of aggressive tightening that has already occurred this year has yet to be fully felt by the economy.

"The trick for the Fed is to acknowledge these concerns without giving markets permission to ease fiscal policy," he said. "We continue to think that this balancing act will prove too difficult for the Fed to manage, and that this tightening cycle is very likely to end in a recession."

Investors were hoping for signals from the central bank on a potential easing in monetary plans, which would serve as a tailwind for the major indexes after they closed last month higher on expectations of a policy pivot. But Powell pushed back against the notion that a shift in the Fed’s path is imminent, with inflation and payrolls still elevated.

“As of now, the inflation and labor market criteria have not been met, so Mr. Powell can’t pre-announce any intention to shift to slower rate increases without contradicting what he said just six weeks ago,” Pantheon Economics Chief Economist Ian Shepherdson said in emailed comments. “Evidence of fading pressure in the pipeline is abundant, but it is yet to hit the numbers which the Fed Chair has said clearly on multiple occasions matter most, namely, the actual core inflation data.”