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Wall Street Pauses as Fed Meeting Looms: Futures Hold Steady

U.S. stock futures were little changed on Tuesday as investors awaited the start of the Federal Reserve’s final policy meeting of the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq futures all hovered near flat, reflecting a cautious mood across Wall Street. The Fed is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged, but traders are focused on Chair Jerome Powell’s comments and the central bank’s updated economic projections. Markets are looking for clues on when rate cuts might begin in 2024, with inflation cooling but still above the Fed’s long-term target. Recent gains in equities have been fueled by optimism that the Fed’s tightening cycle is over, yet uncertainty remains about how quickly monetary policy will shift toward easing. Until then, investors appear content to hold their positions, waiting for clearer signals from the Fed before making bold moves.

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Bond Investors Prepare for Fed Interest Rate Cuts

 

Bond investors are anticipating a change in the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy, with expectations of multiple rate cuts this year and the first since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. 

Portfolio managers have increased bets on long-duration U.S. Treasuries ahead of the meeting, reflecting expectations that yields on those securities will decline as the U.S. central bank moves toward cutting rates. 

As the economy slows, longer-duration bonds tend to outperform other assets. The Fed is widely expected to hold interest rates steady at the end of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, with some investors seeing a possibility that it could ramp up its dovish tone after it was perceived to have pivoted from a tightening policy outlook at its meeting last month.


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