Markets soften on hawkish Fed messaging
As had been clearly telegraphed and widely anticipated, the Federal Reserve opted to hold interest rates at yesterday’s meeting. Officials said “Holding the target range steady at this meeting allows the Committee to assess additional information and its implications for monetary policy,” and Jerome Powell avoided committing to any further moves, instead saying the July meeting would be “live” and dependent on incoming data. More unexpectedly, new projections showed policymakers expect to deliver two additional hikes by year end. But the “dot plot”, as the Summary of Economic Projections is colloquially known, has evolved into a strange hybrid between a forecast update...