(Bloomberg) — Stocks saw their biggest decline on a Federal Reserve day since last March after Jerome Powell said officials want to keep their options open instead of rushing to cut interest rates.
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Speaking after the Fed decision, Powell said he doesn’t think it’s likely the central bank will ease policy in March 2024. In a sign that officials are not in a hurry to lower rates, the central bank also said it “does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%.”
“If stock bulls expected a rate cut in March, Powell seems to have closed the door on that,” said Oscar Munoz at TD Securities.
The S&P 500 fell 1.6%, the most since September. Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc. slumped after disappointing investors betting that an artificial-intelligence bonanza would quickly fuel results. After the close,…
