Fed meeting HIGHLIGHTS: 'Long way to go' on inflation, says Powell after FOMC holds rates for 2nd time

“The idea that it would be difficult to raise again after stopping for a meeting or two is just not right,” Powell said. “The Committee will always do what it thinks is appropriate at the time.”

Stocks remained positive, even as earlier gains were moderated after Fed Chair Powell said that the central bank hasn’t yet reached a decision on how it will proceed at its December meeting. The S&P 500 was last up 0.3%, the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.5%, and the Dow was up 0.1%.

“This has been a resilient economy. It has been surprising in its resilience,” Powell said. Previewing the Fed’s minutes from its monetary policy meeting that concluded today, Powell said the Fed did not factor in a recession in the near future. The Fed releases its minutes three weeks after each policy meeting.

Powell notes that “immigration has rebounded to prepandemic levels,” NYT quoted the Fed chair. That’s a big part of the reason that the labor force has grown faster than many forecasters expected, which has in turn helped allow job growth to continue without driving inflation higher, it added.

Although recent inflation readings have dropped below 4%, the Federal Reserve is not declaring a win over inflation, said Jerome Powell in his speech today. “A few months of good data are only the beginning of what it will take to build confidence that inflation is moving down sustainably toward our goal. The process of getting inflation sustainably down to 2% has a long way to go,” CNBC quoted him as saying.

“There’s very little shock factor in today’s rate decision,” CNN quoted Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.

Federal Reserve Jerome Powell begins his address after the FOMC decided to keep interest rates unchanged for the second consecutive time.

The US Fed has aggressively raised interest rates 11 times since March 2022 in an attempt to fight inflation. The US economy has not only avoided a recession so far but the pace of economic growth of 4.9% per annum on the back of consumer spending. The inflation remains above the Fed target of 2%, even though it has receded from its four-decade peak last summer.

The Federal Reserve has upgraded its stance on the economy as the US central bank decided to keep interest rates unchanged for the second consecutive time. In its statement, the Fed said, “economic activity expanded at a strong pace in the third quarter.” In its September meet statement, policymakers said the economy had expanded at a “solid pace.” The central bank decision comes close on the heels of a report showing that the US GDP expanded at a 4.9% annualised rate, exceeding expectations.

US stocks remained positive, with the S&P 500 up 0.4%, the Nasdaq Composite up 0.7%, and the Dow up 0.3%. Treasury yields slipped, with the 10-year yield sliding to 4.795%, off about 8 basis points.

BIG BREAKING ON Federal Reserve meeting LIVE Updates: FOMC keeps interest rate unchanged for 2nd time, investors await Powell speech

Jeffrey Lacker, former president of the Richmond Fed suggested investors shouldn’t bet on the Federal Reserve ending its policy tightening campaign.

“There’s nothing in it for him [Chair Jerome Powell] to take interest rate hikes off the table and signal a definitive pause for a long time,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “He’s going to keep them on the table. They’re still far from getting done bringing inflation under control.”

US FOMC Meeting LIVE Updates: Federal Reserve monetary policy decision shortly

World shares logged meager gains as investors remained cautious ahead of a decision on interest rates Wednesday by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Oil prices were higher as Israeli airstrikes leveled apartment buildings in Gaza and ground troops battled Hamas militants inside the besieged territory. U.S. benchmark crude oil advanced 86 cents early Wednesday to $81.88 a barrel. It lost 29 cents on Tuesday to $81.02. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 85 cents to $85.87 a barrel. Read full story here 

US markets rose on Wednesday after closing out a third straight month of losses. The Dow was 132 points, or 0.4% higher in midday trading. The S&P 500 climbed 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite was up by 0.6%, as reported by CNN. While Information technology stocks outperformed with the sector rising up more than 1% after semiconductor company AMD beat third-quarter earnings expectations. Shares of AMD were 7.6% higher. The company also lifted other semiconductors and tech companies — Nvidia was trading up 2.5% and shares of Microsoft were up nearly 2%.