Federal Reserve Hikes Interest Rates to 0.75%

The Federal Reserve has delivered their fourth jumbo rate hike by another 0.75% bringing the Fed’s funds rate to c.3.9%. This was in line with market expectations. The message from Powel was mixed and had a hawkish tilt but with a dovish heads-up to markets that there will be a moderation in prevailing rate hikes. Markets reacted favourably initially to this dovish tone but the message that the terminal interest rate will be higher than earlier projected whipsawed markets with the S&P 500 suffering its worst rout following a Fed decision this year. Whilst the path moving forward will involve smaller hikes there is some way to go until rates are tight enough to return inflation to the 2% target.