The Federal Reserve on Wednesday enacted a quarter percentage point interest rate increase, expressing caution about the recent banking crisis and indicating that hikes are nearing an end. Along with its ninth hike since March 2022, the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee noted that future increases are not assured and will depend largely on incoming data.
“The Committee will closely monitor incoming information and assess the implications for monetary policy,” the FOMC’s post-meeting statement said. “The Committee anticipates that some additional policy firming may be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time.“ That wording is a departure from previous statements which indicated “ongoing increases” would be appropriate to bring down inflation. Stocks fell during Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s news conference. Some took Powell’s comments to mean that the central bank may be nearing the end of its rate-hiking cycle, though he qualified that to say that the inflation fight isn’t over.
Source: CNBC