U.S. stocks ended lower but off their lows of the day on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady as expected and Fed Chair Jerome Powell offered soothing comments on the economy.

U.S. stocks slipped after the Federal Reserve held its main interest rate steady and broke a run of cuts that began in September

Buried in a rote US Treasury survey released on the eve of the latest holiday weekend was a question that all of Wall Street wants the answer to: What’s the Federal Reserve’s plan once it’s done drawing down its crisis-era bond holdings?