星期3利息决定出来后market先下降然后又迅速上升。但是FED主席讲话开始后先慢慢滑落然后大掉。这是华盛顿邮报的解读。
Federal Reserve cuts its outlook for U.S. economy; stocks plunge
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday confirmed fears that the U.S. economy is slowing and ratcheted back its plan to raise interest rates next year. But the central bank still hiked its benchmark interest rate a quarter-point, and markets plunged out of concern that the Fed may not be adequately reacting to the risks facing the global economy.
Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell professed confidence that the economy remained “healthy” and “solid” and said he did not see any reason to sharply change the Fed’s path of gradually pulling back support for it. But he acknowledged the economy is showing signs of “softening” and there is a “fairly high degree of uncertainty” about what the Fed will do.
President Trump, who appointed Powell to the top job at the Fed a year ago, had urged the central bank to stop raising interest rates. Trump has called the Fed “foolish” and “crazy” for hiking rates when there is little sign of inflation, and he has blamed Powell for the stock market slump in recent months. U.S. stocks are on track to have their worst year in a decade.
Investors hit the sell button shortly after the Fed’s announcement Wednesday, giving up what had been modest gains after several days of brutal selling. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down more than 350 points, about 1.5 percent, to its lowest level of 2018.
The sharp sell-off shows the difficult challenge Powell faces in his young tenure as Fed chair. He is trying to reassure the nation that the central bank has a firm grip on the state of the economy and will not do anything to make things worse.
Stocks have dropped after every Fed decision since Powell took over the top leadership role at the central bank in February, with his words and actions failing to calm markets.
Powell, like most of his predecessors, says his main focus is economic fundamentals, not short-term market whiplash.
Economists disagree on whether recent developments — including the stock market sell-off and Trump’s trade war — will have a dramatic impact on hiring and spending or whether they will just be small blips.
“A little bit of volatility … doesn’t probably leave a mark on the economy,” Powell said.
Still, the Fed noted that head winds are rising, lowered its 2019 growth forecast from 2.5 percent to 2.3 percent and indicated it is likely to do only two interest-rate hikes in 2019, down from its earlier forecasts of three increases.
Through its benchmark interest rate, the Fed can influence what Americans pay to borrow for homes and cars, as well as what companies pay to borrow to invest and spend. That in turn shapes the whole economy.
Until recently, the Fed had been mostly concerned that the economy could overheat, unleashing a wave of inflation that would lead to a recession. Powell has been trying to engineer a “Goldilocks” economy — plentiful jobs, low inflation and solid growth without overheating. It’s a rare scenario that has not happened since the 1990s.
