What happened Shares of semiconductors star Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) declined 4.4% through 12:12 p.m. Powell explained that "inflationary pressures are higher" than he had thought previously, and in order to combat this inflation, it may become necessary to shut down the federal money-printing presses that have been flooding the economy with cash for years. The Nasdaq has nearly tripled in price over the past five years, and analysts attribute a lot of this growth to the fact that the Fed has been pumping as much as $120 billion a month in liquidity into the economy through its bond purchases.