‘Sigh of Relief’ Yet Pressures Remain: Wall Street Reacts to Fed

The Federal Reserve delivered its expected rate increase and then basically told markets they are on their own when it comes to determining what’s next. Stock bulls took that as a reason to celebrate.

Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank won’t offer explicit guidance on the size of the next rate move after boosting its target by three-quarters of a percentage point and suggesting another “unusually large” increase might be warranted at September’s meeting. He then quickly added that thereafter “it will likely become appropriate to slow the pace of increases.”