The FED interest rate decision meeting will be held on January 31, 2024, and the critical interest rate decision will be announced at 22:00 this evening.

Rabobank Senior US Strategist Philip Marey stated in his evaluation to the AA correspondent that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will remain on hold tomorrow and will reiterate its commitment to data and its intention to proceed carefully.

"The focus at Powell's press conference will be on how long the market will resist the expectations of an early interest rate cut again," said Marey, adding that the first rate cut could happen in June.

Marey stated that the Fed may continue a 25 basis point reduction every quarter after June.

Stating that the strong growth figure of 3.3 percent for the last quarter of 2023 shows that economic activity is resilient after the technical stagnation in the first half of 2022 and is only moderately affected by the Fed's interest rate hike cycle, Marey said that personal consumption expenditures will increase in 2023. He said he had a solid performance in the second half.

Marey noted that real policy rates have not been positive and restrictive for a long time, so there may still be a slowdown in economic growth and most likely a shallow recession throughout 2024. "However, the economic momentum in the fourth quarter of 2023 and the downward revision in unemployment data will increase our recession forecast by 2024." It shows that we may need to move it to a slightly later date than the first and second quarters. "This also reduces the possibility of the FOMC opting for an early interest rate cut," he said.

FWD Bonds Chief Economist Chris Rupkey also stated that interest rate cuts were not discussed at the Fed meeting in December, but it will definitely be a hot topic at the January meeting.#Write2Earn