Today the results of the last US FOMC meeting of the year will be announced.

There are many things to watch, including the release of economic forecasts and Fed Chair Powell’s press conference. There is a market consensus that interest rates will remain unchanged this time. The focus will be on changes in market expectations for the start of interest rate cuts next year. The situation has been unsettled, with the timing of such a move forward or backward depending on the strength or weakness of US economic statistics.

The key point will be how FOMC members forecast interest rates for next year and whether there are any changes from the previous meeting. In addition, the hawkish tone is likely to be basically repeated in Chairman Powell’s press conference, as the inflation target has not yet been reached. However, with inflation steadily stabilising, it will be interesting to see whether the content of his remarks will be in line with market expectations for the start of interest rate cuts, or whether he will take a stubbornly inflation-fighting stance.

By stating that interest rates have recently moved deeper into a suppressive level, the market may have been inclined to believe that the rate hike has come to a halt.
The most recent statement that interest rates are now deep into a suppressive level has led to a sense of a halt to interest rate hikes in the market.