us stock indexes rose on wednesday ahead of another expected sharp interest rate rise by the federal reserve the central bank is widely expected to raise the benchmark interest rates by 75 basis points for a third straight meeting the decision will be announced at 2 pm eastern followed by a press conference from chair powell on tuesday the dow jones industrial average fell 313 points or 101 to 30706 the sp 500 declined 44 points or 113 to 3856 and the nasdaq composite dropped 110 points or 095 to 11425 us equities traded higher despite traders expressing nervousness over tighter monetary policy around the world and heightened geopolitical tensions in europe with inflation rising globally in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic about 90 central banks have raised interest rates this year in the the broadest tightening of monetary policy for 15 years this week alone the fed is set to lift its key rate by 75 basis points for a third time while the bank of england is predicted to boost its benchmark by 50 basis points and hikes are also expected in indonesia norway the philippines sweden and switzerland among countries the federal reserve is expected to increase its policy interest rate by 75 basis points to a target rate of 30 to 325 when it delivers it decision at 2 pm eastern the central bank has swiftly raised borrowing costs from near zero earlier in the year as it strives to combat inflation that is currently 83 near multidecade highs wall street will be most closely watching policy makers projections of monetary tightening in the socalled dot plot for the rest of 2022 and the following years which will give them a glimpse to how high it will go in the future all eyes will be on the federal reserves latest inflation busting move today as the price spiral continues to cause financial pain for consumers and companiesthere are worries that inflation is becoming dangerously entrenched in the economy threatening financial stability wrote susannah streeter senior investment and markets analyst at hargreaves lansdown investors will be looking for clarity on the extent of the feds tightening campaign and we suspect theyll be disappointed wrote john lynch chief investment officer at comerica wealth management we look for the june equity market lows to be retested in the coming weeks third quarter earnings may also weigh on sentiment as companies revise their outlooks lower seethe stock market has rallied on day of every fed ratehike decision in 2022 could it happen again today also suppressing sentiment on wednesday was news that russian president vladimir putin had called for a partial military mobilization of the country to prosecute his attack on ukraine the announcement which included threats against the west raised fears of a further escalation in the conflict precious metals traded higher with gold for december delivery rising 430 or 03 to 167540 an ounce on comex the ice us dollar index  a measure of the currency against a basket of six major rivals advanced 07 on wednesday energy prices slumped with us wti crude futures down 18 to 8299 a barrel and the ice dutch ttf natural gas futures the continents benchmark down 06 to 193 euros per megawatt hour the euro fell 09 to 09881 pushing the dollar index back near its 20year peak the sharp rise in interest rates over recent months  and the prospect of more to come  has sparked a selloff in bonds and pushed benchmark government yields to 11year highs a move that is further pressuring stocks partly because it makes debt assets relatively more attractive correlations between treasury yields equities the us dollar and crypto are at the years highs noted analysts at qcp capital it is no doubt a sign that liquidity or the withdrawal of it is front and center as the main driver of all markets now the analysts said seefeds tough task history shows inflation takes average of 10 years to return to 2 central banks are demonstrating greater resolve to fighting inflation and increasingly willing to sacrifice growth to get there said nathan sheets global chief economist at citi in us economic data existinghome sales in the country fell 04 in august to 48 million the lowest level since may 2020 the national association of realtors said wednesday