The Monetary Policy Committee (FOMC) meeting “began at 9:00 am as scheduled,” a Fed spokesperson said.
The event will end on Wednesday at half-day. The Fed will release a statement at 2:00 pm and its chairman, Jerome Powell, will hold a press conference thirty minutes later.
The central bank will publish its inflation, growth and unemployment rate forecasts for 2024.
Investors are waiting for one piece of data in particular on Wednesday: the graph presenting interest rate estimates, which may provide clues about how many times FOMC members plan to cut rates in 2024 and 2025.
The market does not exclude that this year there will be two cuts and not three as expected at the end of last year, since inflation gained strength and stood at 3.2% for 12 months in February according to the consumer price index ( CPI).
Rates are currently in a range of 5.25-5.50%, highest in more than 20 years.
Since mid-2023, the major left-wing media outlets, aligned with the White House, have been putting pressure on the Federal Reserve to begin lowering interest rates and this will benefit Biden in his intentions to remain in the White House.
However, Powell has resisted pressure over economic insecurity in the US, while prices remain extremely high and consumers do not perceive the relief that the Central Bank talks about.
Source: With information from AFP
