ICYMI from Bank of America on what they expect from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and Powell afterwards at his press conference:

BoA argue that the main thrust from the FOMC will be a 3 parter:

  • "policy needs more time,
  • the next move is most likely a rate cut,
  • and the committee is in a wait-and-see mode until the Fed has more clarity on inflation,"

As for policy moves:

  • expect quantitative tightening to be slowed by reducing the monthly cap of Treasurys redemption to $30 billion from $60 billion

And, from Federal Reserve Chair Powell:

  • We suspect Powell is comfortable with the substantial pricing out" of interest-rate cuts this year and "will also likely find it hard to 'out hawk' the market."

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The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)'s policy decision will be released on Wednesday May 1 at 2 pm US EDT (1800 GMT) with Fed Chair Jerome Powell following up with his press conference at 2:30 pm (1830 GMT).

Earlier previews:

hawk on a forex trading room floor