Powell talks the market out of its enthusiasm

Powell talks the market out of its enthusiasm

Immediately after the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates another 25 basis points today, stocks moved up on a reading of the Fed’s 2 p.m. statement released with the rate news that saw the Fed as saying it would begin to cut interest rates soon. At 2:26 p.m. New York time the Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 0.58%. In Wednesday’s statement, the Fed said, “In determining the extent to which additional policy firming may be appropriate to return inflation to 2% over time, the committee will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments.” In March, the central bank had said it “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.” But stocks peaked for the day shortly after Fed chair Jerome Powell began his press conference at 2:30 p.m.