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Stocks plummeted on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve left rates unchanged.

Stocks plummeted on Wednesday even though the Federal Reserve left rates unchanged as investors expected.

CNBC detailed that the bond market signaled that the central bank could be falling behind in the fight against inflation, with chair Kevin Warsh's remarks failing to convince.

"I want to stress, of course, that decisions by this committee matter a great deal, and where necessary and appropriate, we will not hesitate to act," Warsh said during a passage of his press conference.

Those who voted no are Beth Hammack of Cleveland, Neel Kashkari of Minneapolis and Lorie Logan of Dallas. They were the most vocal about the need to increase rates.

Officials noted in their statement that "economic activity is expanding at a solid pace despite elevated uncertainty that owes, in part, to the conflict in the Middle East," adding that job growth has "kept pace with the workforce and the unemployment rate has changed little."

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.18%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.74%. The S&P 500 plunged 1.51%.

Chipmakers continue their rout. The iShares Semiconductor ETF fell for a fifth strait session amid growing concerns about returns on AI-related spending.

Geopolitical tensions are complicating the scenario for stocks as well. Oil prices surged after renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran, as well as the Houthis' intention to control the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Hostilities are poised to escalate further. President Donald Trump on Wednesday anticipated a forceful response against Iran for attempted strikes against U.S. assets in Jordan.

Speaking to Fox News, Trump said "we're going to beat the f---ing s--t out of them." "We'll be hitting them hard. They're going to get a beating," the president added.

Trump went on to say that U.S. forces had few minutes to respond to the attack but managed to shoot down all incoming missiles.

The U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the "Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces launched multiple ballistic missiles from Iran in an attempted surprise attack on U.S. forces based in the Middle East."