A display shows Fed chairman Jerome Powell's news conference while traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. NEW YORK — — Stocks fell sharply Wednesday after the Federal Reserve indicated the end may be near for its economy-crunching hikes to interest rates, but it also doesn’t expect to cut rates anytime soon despite Wall Street’s hopes.
The Fed also released the latest set of projections from its policy makers on where rates are heading in upcoming years. The median forecast had the federal funds rate sitting at 5.1% at the end of this year, up only a smidge from where it currently sits, in a range of 4.75% to 5%. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which tends to track expectations for the Fed, tumbled to 3.96% from 4.13% just before the projections were released. It was above 5% earlier this month.
Economic “indicators are still pretty resilient,” said Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist for Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “For markets to still speculate on rate cuts, it’s probably not going to take place this year if the Fed has its way.” Powell said such a pullback in lending could act almost like a rate hike on its own. And that was one of the reasons the Fed opted to raise by only 0.25 points Wednesday instead of 0.50 points. He also said that he sees the banking system overall as strong and sound.
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