US STOCKS-Wall Street remains lower after Fed keeps rates unchanged

* Crude prices reverse losses; Brent last up over 5%

* Fed holds rates steady, as expected

* S&P 500 -0.65%, Nasdaq -0.63%, Dow -0.90%

By Noel Randewich and Utkarsh Hathi

March 18 (Reuters) - Wall Street traded lower on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve held U.S. interest rates steady and projected only a single rate cut for the year as officials took stock of economic risks from the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran.

New projections from U.S. central bank policymakers showed the Fed's benchmark overnight interest rate would fall by just a quarter of a percentage point by the end of this year, with no hint of timing.

Major stock indexes maintained their declines from before the Fed's announcement. Economists had not expected the Fed to change its interest rate.

New rate and economic projections showed the Fed largely viewing the recent surge in oil prices as having a temporary effect on inflation, with policymakers still expecting to lower rates this year and anticipating inflation to be 2.2% by the end of 2027, near the central bank's 2% target.

"The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged and made relatively minor changes in its policy statement, suggesting that officials plan to follow long-standing monetary policy orthodoxy in 'looking through' the energy price shock now rolling across the global economy," said Karl Schamotta, chief market strategist at Corpay in Toronto.

Earlier, the U.S. Labor Department said the Producer Price Index rose 3.4% year-on-year, exceeding economists' 2.9% forecast, with prices at risk of accelerating further as the Middle East conflict lifts shipping and oil costs. Brent crude extended gains and reached near $110 a barrel after an Iranian news agency reported that some facilities belonging to Iran's oil industry in South Pars and Asaluyeh were attacked.

The S&P 500 was down 0.65% at 6,672.2 points. The Nasdaq declined 0.63% to 22,337.54 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.90% at 46,570.15 points.

The CBOE volatility index was last up 0.8 points at 23.2. The Middle East conflict has exacerbated volatility in global markets. However, U.S. stocks have been buoyed by a recent rebound in technology shares. AMD gained 3.2% after agreeing with Samsung Electronics (SSNLF) to expand their strategic partnership on memory chip supplies for AI infrastructure. Nvidia (NVDA) rose 0.5% after securing Beijing's approval to sell its second-most powerful artificial intelligence chips in China.

Micron Technology (MU) rose 1.4% ahead of the memory chipmaker's quarterly report after the bell, while SanDisk (SNDK) added 4.3%.

Asset manager Apollo Global Management (APO) rose 3%, while Ares Management Corp (ARES) gained 2.3%, rebounding from sharp losses in the previous week on private credit quality concerns. Lululemon surged 5.5% after the yoga-wear maker's quarterly results. Founder Chip Wilson, who is in a proxy battle with the company, said lead director David Mussafer's decision to exit the board was "a step in the right direction", and reiterated the need for a "substantial" board refresh. Macy's jumped 4.5% after the department store chain said it expected a comparatively smaller impact from tariffs in the second half of the year and beat quarterly profit estimates.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones within the S&P 500 by a 2.5-to-one ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 16 new highs and 13 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 36 new highs and 191 new lows.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Utkarsh Hathi in Bengaluru, and by Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Anil D'Silva, Maju Samuel and David Gregorio)