Fed Chair Powell pours cold water on rate cut in March!

Indra55

The Federal Reserve (Fed), as expected by the market, chose to "stand pat" at 5.25% to 5.5% unchanged for the fourth time in a row at 3 a.m. this morning.
Although the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) indicated in the subsequent policy statement that inflation remains elevated and warrants close attention, officials removed the phrase "considering any additional policy tightening" from last month's statement when discussing central bank policy, further ruling out the possibility of future rate hikes.
Powell pours cold water on rate cut in March
However, on the other hand, the latest policy statement did not hint at a rate cut. Powell only said: the Fed may have completed all the rate hikes needed for this tightening cycle, and it might be appropriate to start easing policy at some point this year if the economy develops roughly as expected. But at the same time, he also dampened the optimistic market expectations for a rate cut in March: based on today's meeting, I don't think the committee is likely to reach the level of confidence in March to believe that a rate cut in March is possible. This still remains to be seen.
Finally, Powell stated that the United States is not yet ready to declare that the economy has achieved a soft landing. "We have not declared victory yet, we believe there is still a way to go."
Bitcoin falls sharply, approaching $42,220
After Powell dispelled optimistic expectations for a rate cut in March, the U.S. stock market plummeted, and Bitcoin also fell sharply. Before the Fed announcement, BTC reached a high of $43,745, but then plummeted. By the time of writing, it had touched a low of $42,220, down 1.22% in the past 24 hours.
Late sell-off in the U.S. stock market:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 317.01 points, or 0.82%, to close at 38,150.3 points.
The Nasdaq fell 345.89 points, or 2.23%, to close at 15,164.01 points.
The S&P 500 fell 79.32 points, or 1.61%, to close at 4,845.65 points.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 59.07 points, or 1.37%, to close at 4,260.92 points.
Market bets on rate cut in March decline
As Federal Reserve officials appear to remain conservative about rate cut actions, according to CME Group's FedWatch data, the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will keep rates unchanged at the next March meeting has risen to 47%, while the likelihood of a rate cut has dropped from 73.4% a month ago to 53.0% currently.

Jiten171

I don't think it's necessary to constantly keep an eye on this.

Jafar224

Well, that's just how things are sometimes.

Kalkin995

I'll still keep an eye on it at times like this.