Higher for Longer? Final Federal Reserve Meeting of 2023 Could Stoke New Rate Debate

The Federal Reserve will hold its final Federal Open Market Committee policy meeting of 2023 this week and policymakers are expected to leave the benchmark interest rate unchanged at a range of 5.25 percent and 5.5 percent. But financial markets might be focusing more on what to expect next year. Fed officials will publish the updated Summary of Economic Projection (SEP), leaving investors to concentrate on the central bank’s path throughout 2024. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, the futures market anticipates that the Federal Reserve will not touch interest rates until May 2024. Investors are penciling in a 25- or 50-basis-point rate cut, the first stage of loosening monetary policy conditions since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic....