Fed Rate Hike Meets Expectations, But What Next? Here''s What the Experts Say
The Federal Reserve served up a widely expected third consecutive jumbo rate hike when it concluded its regularly scheduled two-day meeting on Wednesday. Chair Jerome Powell and the rest of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised the federal funds rate by 75 basis points. (A basis point equals 0.01%.) SEE MORE 16 Dividend Kings for Decades of Dividend Growth Although the move matched consensus expectations, a significant portion of the bond market – and plenty of traders and tacticians, for that matter – were bracing for a whopping 100 bp rate hike. Uncertainty over just how hawkish the Fed would reveal itself to be has cast a pall on equities over the preceding weeks, and so a rate hike of "only" three-quarters of a percentage point was actually met with some relief. Stocks sold off sharply when the Fed released its statement at 2 p.m. Eastern, but then drifted back into positive territory during Powell''s press conference, which began a half-hour later. The Fed''s bottom line is that inflation is by no means under control .
Fed Rate Hike Meets Expectations, But What Next? Here''s What the Experts Say
The Federal Reserve served up a widely expected third consecutive jumbo rate hike when it concluded its regularly scheduled two-day meeting on Wednesday. Chair Jerome Powell and the rest of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised the federal funds rate by 75 basis points. (A basis point equals 0.01%.) SEE MORE 16 Dividend Kings for Decades of Dividend Growth Although the move matched consensus expectations, a significant portion of the bond market – and plenty of traders and tacticians, for that matter – were bracing for a whopping 100 bp rate hike. Uncertainty over just how hawkish the Fed would reveal itself to be has cast a pall on equities over the preceding weeks, and so a rate hike of "only" three-quarters of a percentage point was actually met with some relief. Stocks sold off sharply when the Fed released its statement at 2 p.m. Eastern, but then drifted back into positive territory during Powell''s press conference, which began a half-hour later. The Fed''s bottom line is that inflation is by no means under control .