FOMC

Asset valuations are stretched across a broad set of financial markets and some cryptocurrencies have witnessed “extreme volatility,” Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard said, though overall risks to the financial system are still low.

The federal funds rate is near neutral and the Federal Open Market Committee doesn’t need to raise rates much more, according to Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari.

The Federal Reserve is facing a backlash over its lack of diversity in key positions after it emerged this weekend that John Williams, the current president of the San Francisco regional branch, is a front-runner to succeed William Dudley as head of the powerful New York Fed.

Two regional Federal Reserve bank presidents said they favor raising interest rates twice more this year following a hike this week, but were open to shifting their views if the outlook warranted a different policy approach.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said he backed the Fed’s rate hike and would vote for others, even though inflation could potentially surpass 2%.

Bill Gross, the billionaire bond manager with Janus Henderson Group Plc, doesn't expect three or four hikes this year.

Primary and secondary activities were an afterthought Wednesday as the municipal market focused on the interest rate announcement from the Federal Reserve Board.

In his first press conference as chair following a Federal Open Market Committee Jerome Powell stressed that “one decision” was made at the meeting: raising rates 25 basis points to a 1.5% to 1.75% target range.

The Federal Open Market Committee raised the federal funds rate target to a 1.50% to 1.75% range, as expected, while the Summary of Economic Projections still calls for three hikes this year.

The municipal market concentrated on a Federal Reserve Board 25 basis-point interest rate hike, while keeping an eye on falling snow.