US Fed Meeting LIVE: Wall Street drifts higher ahead of Powell-led FOMC verdict
US Fed Meeting LIVE: The US Federal Reserve will announce its second policy decision for 2024 after a two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting today amid stagflationary risks threatening the US economy due to US President Donald Trump‘s tariff hikes which have escalated a global trade war.
Wall Street eyes the US central bank to hold the benchmark interest rate steady in today’s monetary policy verdict amid the volatile trade policy and economic uncertainty hurting the world’s largest economy. Economists have sounded alarm about ‘stagflation’—a combination of still-high inflation and a weak or stagnant economy after sharp cuts to government spending and layoffs.
US Fed eyes interest rate pause?
Earlier this month, US Fed chief Jerome Powell said at a New York research conference that the US Federal Reserve is likely to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged in the coming months as it waits for widespread uncertainty stemming from Donald Trump’s policies. Powell signalled potential tweaks for the closely watched ‘dot plot’ interest-rate projections as part of the policy review.
Economists use those dots to guide what the US Fed sees as most likely to happen regarding interest rates. US Fed policymakers on the rate-setting committee will also publish updated economic forecasts today, with many analysts anticipating trade uncertainty could cause them to increase their inflation outlook slightly and downgrade their predictions for growth.
US Fed policy decision in January
The rate pause estimates come after US Fed chair Jerome Powell-led rate-setting panel voted unanimously to hold the federal funds rates unchanged at 4.25 – 4.50 per cent in January—the first interest rate decision of the US central bank since Donald Trump took charge as the 47th US President on January 20.
US Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in the post-policy press conference that the central bank does not need to be in a hurry to adjust the policy stance and that the rate pause is to see further progress on inflation. The US Fed lowered the key overnight interest rates by a full percentage point in the final months of 2024.
After raising the policy rate by 5.25 percentage points since March 2022 in one of the swiftest Fed reactions to combat the worst outbreak of inflation in 40 years, the central bank held the rate on hold between July 2023-2024 to anchor in high inflation and consistently bring it down toward the two per cent target range.
Stay tuned to LiveMint for all live updates on US Federal Reserve policy decision today
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Trump taps Michelle Bowman to be US Fed vice chair for supervision
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Donald Trump on Monday picked Michelle Bowman to be the Federal Reserve’s next vice chair for supervision, tapping someone seen as favoring a lighter touch to banking regulation. The central bank role requires confirmation by the Senate, which is controlled by Trump’s Republican party.
“I am pleased to announce that Michelle ‘Miki’ Bowman will be the US Federal Reserve’s new Vice Chair of Supervision,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social site. “Miki has the ‘know-how’ to get it done,” he said. Bowman, a former community banker, was nominated by Trump to the Fed’s governing board in 2018.
The US Fed vice chair for supervision must be nominated from the ranks of the bank’s seven-strong Board of Governors, which currently has three Republican appointees: US Fed chair Jerome Powell, Bowman, and governor Christopher Waller.
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Gold hits record high tracking global unrest
US Fed Meeting LIVE: The price of gold, seen as a safe-haven investment, struck a record high above $3,045 an ounce on fears of a fresh upsurge in hostilities in the Middle East after Israel launched its most intense strikes on Gaza since a ceasefire with Hamas took effect.
US Fed Meeting LIVE: TSX rises ahead of US Fed rate decision
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Canada’s main stock index rose about one per cent on Wednesday, mirroring the positive sentiment on Wall Street as investors awaited the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate verdict due later in the day.
The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 0.96 per cent at 24,925.55 points. The Wall Street’s tech-heavy Nasdaq index gained 0.9 per cent. Canada’s information technology sector was the biggest gainer among sectors on Wednesday, adding two per cent, boosted by a seven per cent jump in index heavyweight Shopify.
The pressure on Canadian equities reflects markets globally as investors try to price in risks of recession due to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the resulting trade war. The Bank of Canada, at its policy meeting last week, had warned that the domestic economy could be hit by trade uncertainties.
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Wall Street gains ahead of US Fed decision; US dollar firms as Turkish lira slides
US Fed Meeting LIVE: US stocks advanced and bitcoin rebounded on Wednesday as markets awaited the rate decision from the US Federal Reserve, which could provide insight regarding the state of the economy and the central bank’s next monetary policy moves.
Megacap tech-related momentum stocks rebounded in a risk-on revival that put the Nasdaq out front, strengthened the dollar and put gold on the defensive. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 246.54 points, or 0.60 per cent, to 41,829.45, the S&P 500 rose 36.30 points, or 0.65 per cent, to 5,650.99 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 159.22 points, or 0.90 per cent, to 17,661.27.
The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.34 per cent to 103.65, with the euro down 0.43 per cent at $1.0896. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.42 per cent to 149.89. The Turkish lira was last trading down 3.55 per cent at 37.987 per dollar.
US Fed Meeting LIVE: FTSE 100 eases with US Fed rate verdict on horizon
US Fed Meeting LIVE: UK’s FTSE 100 edged lower on Wednesday after five consecutive sessions of gains, with investors maintaining caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve interest-rate decision later in the day. The blue-chip FTSE 100 fell 0.2 per cent by 7.40 GMT. In a week packed with central bank meetings, the Federal Reserve’s policy decision takes center stage in the day. The US top bank is expected to keep rates unchanged, with any signals on future rate cuts to support growth being crucial.
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Wall Street gains with all eyes on US Fed rate decision
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s widely anticipated monetary policy decision, at a time when worries linger about trade policies and their impact on the economy.
At 09:48 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 211.05 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 41,792.36, the S&P 500 gained 23.94 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 5,638.60, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 96.19 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 17,600.31.
Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors rose, led by a 0.8 per cent gain in consumer discretionary stocks. Tesla gained 3.1 per cent after the EV maker logged declines over the past two sessions.
US Fed Meeting LIVE: US Treasuries yields rise before Fed meeting statement
US Fed Meeting LIVE: US Treasury yields gained on Wednesday and two-year yields hit a three-week high before the Federal Reserve is expected to keep rates on hold and policymakers are due to update their economic and interest rate projections.
Investors will focus on whether US Fed officials have soured on the economic outlook as uncertainty about the implementation and impact of trade tariffs dents consumer sentiment.
The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes was last up 2.5 basis points on the day at 4.306 per cent.
The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, rose 4 basis points to 4.082 per cent, the highest since February 27. The yield curve between two-year and 10-year notes flattened by around two basis points to 22 basis points.
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Gold prices hold steady as investors eye US Fed verdict
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Gold prices were little changed on Wednesday, after touching a fresh record level earlier in the day on continued safe-haven demand, as investors awaited the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision due later in the day.
Spot gold fell 0.1 per cent to $3,030.13 an ounce, as of 09:35 a.m. ET (1335 GMT). Bullion surged to an all-time high of $3,045.24 earlier in the session, marking its 15th record peak this year. US gold futures shed 0.1 per cent to $3,038.00.
Gold, traditionally viewed as a safe-haven investment during times of inflation or economic volatility, has climbed over 15 per cent so far this year. Spot silver dropped 1.2 per cent to $33.61 an ounce, platinum lost 1.6 per cent to $980.90 and palladium fell 0.8 per cen to $959.20.
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Wall Street opens higher ahead of US Fed decision
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Wall Street’s main indexes opened higher on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s widely anticipated monetary policy decision, at a time when worries about trade policies and their impact on the economy have rattled investors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 84.73 points, or 0.20 per cent, to 41,666.04, the S&P 500 gained 18.29 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 5,632.95, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 84.20 points, or 0.50 per cent, to 17,588.32 at the opening bell.
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Wall Street eyes economic projections to be released today
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Focus will be on new economic projections from policymakers that will give an idea of how they feel US President Donald Trump’s policies will affect economic growth, inflation and unemployment. Traders see the Fed lowering borrowing costs by at least two 25-basis point cuts by December, with the first expected in July, according to data compiled by LSEG.
US stocks have come under severe selling pressure in the recent weeks after a raft of economic indicators signaled a cooling of the US economy amid trade policy uncertainties. The benchmark S&P 500 index confirmed last week it was in correction following a 10 per cent drop from its recent high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also confirmed a correction on March 6, while the blue-chip Dow is about two per cent away from the correction threshold.
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Wall Street poised for higher open ahead of US Fed decision
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Wall Street’s main indexes were poised for a higher open on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s widely anticipated monetary policy decision, at a time when worries about trade policies and their impact on the economy have rattled investors.
The central bank is expected to leave its benchmark overnight interest rate unchanged in the 4.25 per cent-4.50 per cent range, when it releases its policy statement at 2 p.m. ET. At 08:47 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 34 points, or 0.08 per cent, S&P 500 E-minis were up 12.75 points, or 0.23 per cent, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 68.5 points, or 0.35 per cent.
US Fed Meeting LIVE: US Fed in no hurry to cut rates
US Fed Meeting LIVE: US Fed ‘in no hurry’ to cut rates
“While there have been recent developments in some of these areas, especially trade policy, uncertainty around the changes and their likely effects remains high,” said US Fed’s Powell. “As we parse the incoming information, we are focused on separating the signal from the noise as the outlook evolves. We do not need to be in a hurry, and are well positioned to wait for greater clarity.
In the January US Fed verdict, Powell said in the post-policy press conference that the US central bank had paused the interest rates to see further progress on inflation. The US Fed policymakers had stated that labour market conditions remain solid, and US inflation remains ‘somewhat elevated’ in January.
US Fed Meeting LIVE: US Fed’s ‘dot plot’ projections to be tweaked
US Fed Meeting LIVE: US Fed’s ‘dot plot’ projections to be tweaked
US Fed Chair Jerome Powell signalled potential changes for the US Fed’s closely watched “dot plot” interest-rate projections as part of a policy framework review underway at the US central bank and expected to wrap up by the end of summer.
“On the communications…particularly our post-meeting communications, we’re going to take a close look at the SEP and also compare ourselves to what other central banks around the world do,” Jerome Powell said at a research conference in New York, referring to the US Fed’s summary of economic projections.
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Jerome Powell signals rate pause
US Fed Meeting LIVE: US Fed chair Jerome Powell signals rate pause
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the US Federal Reserve is likely to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged in the coming months as it waits for widespread uncertainty stemming from President Donald Trump’s policies.
US Fed chair Powell said the Trump administration is making policy changes in several areas, including trade, taxes, government spending, immigration and regulation, and added that the “net effect” of those changes are what will matter for the US economy and the US Fed’s interest rate policies.
US Fed Meeting LIVE: US Fed Meeting schedule
US Fed Meeting LIVE: The FOMC conducts eight scheduled meetings each year, with additional sessions as necessary. The upcoming two-day meeting is set for March 18 and 19, with the key interest rate announcement expected on March 19 at 2 p.m. ET (March 20, 12:30 a.m. IST). The committee will also release its economic projections alongside the decision.
After the meeting concludes, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will hold a post-policy press conference on March 19 at 2:30 p.m. ET (March 20, 1 a.m. IST) to discuss the policy outlook and answer questions from the media
US Fed Meeting LIVE: FOMC mandate
US Fed Meeting LIVE: The US Federal Reserve has a dual mandate to act independently and keep inflation and employment in check, primarily by raising and lowering short-term interest rates. Experts believe that under Trump’s presidency, there has been a distinct shift in the dynamics between the administration and the US Fed.
US Fed Meeting LIVE: Jerome Powell-led FOMC to unveil second policy decision for 2025 today
US Fed Meeting LIVE: The US Federal Reserve’s rate-setting panel led by US Fed chair Jerome Powell will reveal the second monetary policy decision for 2025 today amid broad economic uncertainty in the US due to Donald Trump’s tariff hikes and trade policies. Wall Street analysts and market experts foresee an interest rate pause for to gauge the impact of tariffs on US inflation and economic growth.