The Federal Reserve suspended interest rate hikes, but US stocks fell!

The Federal Reserve once again kept interest rates unchanged, but Powell left suspense in his speech about continuing to raise interest rates, and US stocks fell collectively thereafter.

On September 20, local time, the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced the latest interest rate decision, keeping the federal funds rate target range unchanged between 5.25% and 5.5%, in line with expectations. This is the second time since June this year that interest rate hikes have not continued at the previous meeting.

However, the bitmap shows that most FOMC members expect another rate hike during the year, and the Federal Reserve also raised interest rate expectations for the next two years, sending a signal that high interest rates will remain high for longer.

Powell said at the press conference that in view of the progress made by the Federal Reserve, the FOMC decided to keep interest rates unchanged this time. However, keeping interest rates unchanged does not mean that the Federal Reserve has reached the restrictive position sought by the agency; the Federal Reserve has not made a decision on whether interest rates are sufficiently restrictive. The Federal Reserve is prepared to raise interest rates further if appropriate until it is certain that inflation is falling continuously towards the set target of 2%.