Chair of the Federal Reserve Kevin Warsh vowed to achieve price stability but defended a decision to keep interest rates unchanged (Brendan SMIALOWSKI)Wall Street stocks finished sharply lower Wednesday after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged despite lofty US inflation as escalations in the Middle East war pushed oil prices skyward. Major US indices ended down more than 1.5 percent after initially greeting the Fed's decision to keep interest rates level. "The market is getting mixed messages from the Fed," said Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments. Besides the Fed decision, the market also digested the latest spike in oil prices after President Donald Trump vowed to hit back hard at Iran after it attacked US bases in Jordan. "We continue to see oil prices and inflation pressures moving higher as inventories drain further amid the lack of peace in the Persian Gulf," said a note from Bart Melek of TD Securities.