James Knightley, chief international economist at ING, noted that the big change in the accompanying statement is the dropping of the description of the Fed’s stance as being “patient”.
Key quotes
“Instead, the Fed believes ‘uncertainties about the outlook have increased” which mean the FOMC will be ‘closely monitoring the implications of incoming information”¦ and will act as appropriate to sustain the expansion‘.”
“The current economic situation has also been downgraded from one that was “solid” in May to one that is “moderate” today.”
“The tone of this statement is clearly suggesting that rate cuts are in the offing and markets are increasingly confident that the first move will be in July with three more probable over the next year.”
“The press conference has allowed Fed Chair Powell to put a bit more colour on the situation, suggesting that the Fed will learn a lot in the near term – next week’s G20 and associated trade discussions – and that the Fed should not overreact to individual data points.”