Wall Street struggles after Powell's inflation comments

NEW YORK, New York -- Wall Street struggled to find its footing on Wednesday after Fed chief Jerome Powell vowed to rid the nation of excessive inflation.

Powell told the European Central Bank's annual conference in Sintra, Portugal on Wednesday that the process is highly likely to involve some pain but the worst pain would be from failing to address this high inflation and allowing it to become persistent.

CNBC reported that Wells Fargo senior equity analyst Christopher Harvey said on Wednesday that the company expects significant volatility this summer, with short-covering rallies followed by economic-inspired market slumps. The market will not sustain a rally until the Fed can switch from a 50-75 bp tightening to a more mundane 25 bp increase, as a much-anticipated market washout may catalyze a more sustained move higher, Harvey said.

The Dow Jones was at least in the black, rising 82.32 points or 0.27 percent to 31,029. The Nasdaq Composite fell by 3.65 points or 0.03 percent to 11,177. The Standard and Poor's 500 softened by 2.72 points or 0.07 percent to 3,818. The euro fell to 1.0441 by the New York close Wednesday, and the U.S. dollar surged higher. The British pound fell to 1.2116. The Swiss franc was up a bit to 0.9551, up a tad.

The Australian dollar was down to 0.6876. The German Dax took a major hit in Europe, dropping 1.73 percent. The CAC 40 in Paris, France was down 0.90 percent. The FTSE 100 declined by 0.15 percent in London.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined by 244.87 points or 0.91 percent to 26,804. The Australian All Ordinaries were stripped of 75.50 points or 1.09 percent to close Wednesday at 6,877. In New Zealand, the S&P NZX 50 fell 59.99 points or 0.54 percent to 10,958. The Hang Seng declined 422.08 points or 1.88 percent to 21,996 in Hong Kong.