NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street stocks tumbled on Wednesday (Dec 19) after the Federal Reserve lifted interest rates while pledging a cautious approach to additional interest rate hikes next year.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.5 per cent, about 350 points, at 23,324.10.

The broad-based S&P dropped 1.5 per cent to 2,506.87, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index sank 2.2 per cent to 6,635.48.

Major indices had been up about 1 per cent prior to the Fed announcement.