What’s Going On? The Fed completed its first monetary meeting of 2024. As widely anticipated, the Fed has kept the Fed Funds rate unchanged at 5.25% – 5.5% for the fourth consecutive meeting. Although the Fed indicated that rate cuts are unlikely to start in March, as the market had hoped, the overall tone seems to be dovish. Compared to the last meeting, the Fed provided a much clearer signal for a policy pivot in 2024. Notably, the Fed removed the phrase “the extent of any additional policy firming” from the FOMC statement, indicating a pause in rate hikes for the time being. Fed Chair Jerome Powell also mentioned in the conference that rate cuts are expected to start at some point this year, but not as early as March. Another significant point was the discussion about rolling back Quantitative Tightening, or the process of removing money from the economy. Tapering of quantitative tightening typically means a slower rate of liquidity withdrawal from...