Higher for Longer? Final Federal Reserve Meeting of 2023 Could Stoke New Rate…

The Federal Reserve will hold its final Federal Open Market Committee policy meeting of 2023 this week and policymakers are expected to leave the benchmark interest rate unchanged at a range of 5.25 percent and 5.5 percent. But financial markets might be focusing more on what to expect next year. Fed officials will publish the updated Summary of Economic Projection (SEP), leaving investors to concentrate on the central bank's path throughout 2024. After last month's consumer price index (CPI) report, which came in at 3.2 percent, traders had penciled in a 56 percent chance of a rate cut as early as March 2024. However, after a…