NEW YORK, March 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks ended lower on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve decided to raise interest rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 44.96 points, or 0.18 percent, to 24,682.31. The S&P 500 decreased 5.01 points, or 0.18 percent, to 2,711.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 19.02 points, or 0.26 percent, to 7,345.29.

The U.S. central bank on Wednesday raised the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points and signaled two more rate hikes in 2018, citing "strengthened" economic outlook in recent months.

"In view of realized and expected labor market conditions and inflation," the Fed decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 1.5 to 1.75 percent, the central bank said in a statement after concluding a two-day meeting.

Fed officials mostly expected that the U.S. economy would grow at a faster pace this and next year, driven by fiscal stimulus and improved overseas demands.

The country's economy is expected to grow at 2.7 percent in 2018 and 2.4 percent in 2019, higher than previous projections of 2.5 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively, according to the Fed's forecasts.

In corporate news, shares of Facebook closed 0.74 percent higher on Wednesday following plunging nearly 9 percent in the previous two sessions, after reports showed that the social media giant allowed third parties to access data on millions of users without their knowledge.