The Federal Open Market Committee announcement and Powell's presser were Wednesday US time.
- No signal of a policy shift from the Committee. No one expcted any, so no surprise here. in policy today.
- FOMC cut to interest on excess reserves IOER (by 0.05%) - this a technical adjustment to keep fed funds rate within the target range
- There was an acknowledgement of weaker inflation in the statement … Chair Powell followed up in news conference saying weak inflation pressures may be cause by transitory factors
Summing up … not as dovish as was expected. USD gained, stocks took a wee hit lower.
As it happened (read from the bottom up):
- Stocks end at lows after rally fizzles on Powell's less dovish comments
- At the start and at the end of the press conference from Fed's Powell
- Powell Q&A: We don't see a strong case for moving in either direction
- Fed's Powell: Incoming data have been broadly in-line with expectations
- The full FOMC statement for May 2019
- Federal Reserve holds interest rates in 2.25%-2.50% range, as expected
