Powell era begins on a hawkish note

The Fed’s decision to raise interest rates by 25bp today was widely expected but some investors may have been caught off-guard by the degree to which Fed officials increased their projections for future interest rate hikes. The median forecast for the fed funds rate at the end of 2019 is now 2.75-3.00% - exactly in line with our own forecast, which until recently was at the hawkish end of the spectrum.