Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s forecast of continued sluggish growth in the US economy for 2012 sent US stocks lower on Wednesday.

At the closing bell the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 53.51 points (0.41 per cent) to 12,951.61.

The broad-based S&P 500 ended off 6.52 (0.48 per cent) at 1,365.66, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 19.87 points (0.67 per cent) to 2,966.89.

After a solid opening buoyed by a higher-than-expected 3.0 per cent estimate of the fourth quarter 2011 growth rate, stocks felt the impact of Bernanke’s cold shower: he told a congressional hearing that flat incomes and still-high unemployment would likely limit growth this year to a 2.25 per cent annual pace.