Fed stands pat on rates and view on 2024 cuts, in face of elevated inflation

investing.com:

(Reuters) -The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, but policymakers indicated they still expect to reduce them by three-quarters of a percentage point by the end of 2024 despite stodgier expected progress towards the U.S. central bank's 2% inflation target.

The Fed's new policy statement described inflation as remaining «elevated,» and updated quarterly economic projections showed the personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy rising at a 2.6% rate by the end of the year, compared to 2.4% in the projections issued in December.

MARKET REACTION:

STOCKS: The S&P 500 turned 17.35 points higher, or 0.34%

BONDS: The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 0.6 basis points to 4.303%. The 2-year note yield fell 4.9 basis points to 4.6427%

FOREX: The dollar index fell 0.18% to 103.67, with the euro up 0.19% at $1.0886

COMMENTS:

BRIAN JACOBSEN, CHIEF ECONOMIST, ANNEX WEALTH MANAGEMENT, MENOMONEE FALLS, WISCONSIN

“The only real change is that the Fed is probably less confident about the direction of travel for inflation. Thus far, they're looking through the noise of the January and February inflation readings. The slightly less aggressive slope towards the long-term target for the federal funds rate suggests they aren't completely confident in the direction or rate of travel. If they don't know where we are, how can they know where they are going or when they will get there? They're flying by the seat of their pants.”

BILL ADAMS, CHIEF ECONOMIST, COMERICA BANK, DALLAS (by email)

«The March monetary policy statement judged that the risks to the Fed’s 'achieving its employment and inflation goals are moving into better balance,' but that they want 'greater confidence' that