A major focus point for investors this week is the two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting, with markets expecting the central bank to press ahead with a sharp rate hike and formally announce the launch of a much-anticipated balance sheet runoff.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is scheduled to meet on May 3–4, with remarks by Fed officials suggesting that the central bank is looking to take aggressive measures in a bid to relieve surging inflationary pressures.
The Fed’s key inflation gauge, the so-called core PCE price index that the central bank relies on heavily in calibrating monetary policy, rose at an annual pace of 5.2 percent in March. That’s over twice as high as the Fed’s inflation target of around 2 percent.
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