FOMC meeting

Stocks fell after the Federal Reserve lifted interest rates by 0.5 percentage point. The smaller increase followed larger increases of 0.75 point at their ...

Traders were in no mood to fight the Fed on Wednesday, sending stocks sharply into reverse in late-afternoon trading. Investors were in a celebratory mood heading into the Fed's meeting on Wednesday. They did—but a whiff of doubt crept in as the central bankers' dot plot and Mr.

The Federal Reserve approved a half-point interest rate hike on Wednesday, a smaller increase than in recent months and an acknowledgment that inflation is ...

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last month that there is still a chance the economy can avoid recession but said the odds are slim. That’s 0.2 percentage points higher than the 4.4% rate they were expecting in September and significantly higher than the current 3.7% rate. That would mean Fed officials expect to raise rates by half a percent more than they did three months ago, when the plot was last released. Business is also good: Companies are largely beating revenue expectations and reporting positive earnings results. The Fed also released its highly anticipated Summary of Economic Projections, which includes what is colloquially known as the dot plot. [the Fed’s favored price gauge,](https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/01/economy/pce-inflation-report-october/index.html) would remain above its 2% target until at least 2025.

That is the message sent by the Federal Reserve's policy committee on Wednesday: Officials increased their target interest rate by 0.50 percentage point and ...

Collectively, they expect a less robust economy than had been expected for next year and for a longer path down from decades-high inflation. - Print Article - Order Reprints

The Fed meeting signaled that policymakers plan to hike their key interest rate higher than expected in a test for the S&P 500 rally.

Until the job market cracks, wage growth is likely to remain stubbornly high, and the Fed may hike its benchmark interest rate higher and for longer than markets anticipate. Because price changes for such services are closely linked to wage growth, they provide the best signal of where core inflation is heading, Powell said. That's partly because the two indexes measure health care services inflation in much different ways, with the PCE measure more reflective of wage pressures. Still, the S&P 500 remains 18% below its record high on Jan. Powell has subsequently said that the Fed's peak rate of the cycle, or terminal rate, would likely have to rise above 4.6%. That reversed Tuesday's 0.7% gain, which dwindled to that fraction after the S&P 500 had climbed nearly 3% at Tuesday morning highs following the tame CPI. Through Tuesday's close, the S&P 500 has rallied 10% from its Oct. 21 meeting indicated the federal funds rate could rise to 4.6% in 2023, before easing to 3.9% in 2024. The past several rally attempts back to April have stalled out at the 200-day moving average. But he said it's too early to make a call whether the next move will be 50 basis points or 25 basis points and Powell repeated a few times that inflation risks remain weighted to the upside. That fell to about 47% shortly after the Fed announcement, but rebounded all the way to 76% on Powell's comments. [60% odds](https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html?redirect=/trading/interest-rates/countdown-to-fomc.html) of just a quarter-point hike on Feb.