Question

When you push down on a confined fluid you create pressure in what direction does the pressure act?

Answer 1

An unprofessional answer would be...

Explanation:

...that you can only make the water pressurized to a certain degree, and not to any specific direction. However, essentially you would be pushing the water on top downwards until you can no longer push it further.
If you have a litre of water, you cannot pressure it to the point where it is only 1 decilitre.

Short answer: No specific direction. You can simply not push it further than a certain point if the liquid is confined.