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It ended up being a “hawkish cut,” as expected. Still, investors managed to find a few gifts tucked between the lumps of coal.
Even though the U.S. Federal Reserve lowered interest rates by a quarter percentage point on Wednesday stateside, two regional bank presidents — Jeffrey Schmid of Kansas City and Austan Goolsbee of Chicago — wanted rates to stand pat.
Their caution was echoed in the Fed’s “dot plot” of rate projection, which showed officials penciling in just one cut in 2026 and another for 2027.
