US STOCKS-Wall Street loses ground slightly after first Fed statement under Warsh

(updates prices to afternoon)

* Indexes off: Dow 0.02%, S&P 500 0.34%, Nasdaq 0.28%

* Chipmakers rebound after selloff in previous session

* May retail sales jump 0.9% vs 0.5% est.

* Fed keeps rates steady, signals hikes

By Sin?ad Carew and Sruthi Shankar

June 17 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes lost some ground on Wednesday, after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, as expected, but signaled a rate hike later this year after the first meeting led by new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. New quarterly projections showed nine U.S. central bank officials now anticipate a rate hike by the end of 2026. An updated policy statement removed language that had been used to flag the likelihood of further reductions in borrowing costs in 2026. Warsh appeared not to have submitted an interest-rate-path projection as part of the central bank's quarterly forecasts, a break from past practices by Fed chiefs. Policymakers had been widely expected to hold interest rates unchanged at the 3.50%-3.75% range as they wrestled with inflation pressures from higher oil prices fueled by the Iran war. After the meeting, traders kept bets for a roughly 42% chance of a 25-basis-point rate hike in December and increased expectations for a 50-basis-point hike to 27% from around 15%, according to CME Group's (CME) FedWatch tool. Investors will keep a close watch on the new Fed chair's first press conference for his views on inflation, unemployment and the economic outlook. "Maybe there is some concern in the market that we're not going to get forward guidance in the future. Markets love information. It's not a big selloff here," said Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York. "There is some concern about inflation so I'm not surprised to see a number of Fed officials indicated they might see a rate increase by the end of the year." At 2:20 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7.93 points, or 0.02%, to 51,991.74, the S&P 500 lost 25.20 points, or 0.34%, to 7,486.15 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 75.55 points, or 0.28%, to 26,301.97.

Stocks had rallied sharply from Thursday through Monday as oil prices fell after President Donald Trump announced a preliminary U.S.-Iran peace deal. After indexes slipped on Tuesday, they had been more muted ahead of the Fed meeting on Wednesday. Also, oil prices edged back up on Wednesday after Trump said the agreement with Iran was not final and that the war could resume if he is unsatisfied. Earlier, data showed U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in May, with households purchasing more cars and other vehicles even as they paid higher prices for gasoline. In individual stocks, CME Group (CME) slipped 4.7% after the exchange operator said its CEO, Terry Duffy, will step down on March 1, and transition to the role of executive chairman. Shares of Allbirds (BIRD) soared 42.6% after the footwear maker-turned-AI company changed its name to Smartbird and appointed former Amazon executive Nadia Carlsten as CEO. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.25-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, where there were 252 new highs and 90 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 2,534 stocks rose and 2,196 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.15-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 27 new 52-week highs and 12 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 76 new highs and 75 new lows. (Reporting by Sin?ad Carew in New York, Sruthi Shankar and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and David Gregorio)