“Uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further,” the Fed said in a statement released Wednesday.
“The inflation picture remains elevated and sticky and unemployment continues to be relatively contained, so the Fed lacks the necessary ingredients to cut rates,” Chris Brigati, chief investment officer at Texas insurance and financial services company SWBC, wrote in a note Wednesday morning.
“For the time being, we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance,” he said.
“We continue to believe the Fed will prioritize protecting the labor market later this year, if and when the hard data turns,” Mike Sanders, head of fixed income at Madison Investments, wrote in a note Wednesday morning.
“The tariff situation is extremely fluid and unpredictable,” Brigati wrote, “therefore it would be irresponsible for the Fed to attempt to be responsive to tariffs when the situation can change drastically and their actions could lack the intended impacts or even worse compound a detrimental effect.”
