No Surprise From the Fed (Capital Market Research) (Weekly Market Outlook

An upbeat, if still cautious, tone characterized the March meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. The fed funds rate target, as anticipated, was kept unchanged, despite higher-than-expected consumer price inflation reports in recent months. However, reflecting recent communications, the Federal Reserve dampened expectations about the FOMC’s urgency to rush to rate cuts. Federal subsidies to boost semiconductor production in the U.S. are accelerating. In December, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said she expected to make around a dozen semiconductor chips funding awards within the next year under the CHIPS Act, some of them multibillion-dollar announcements. This prediction is coming true. On Tuesday, the White House announced the biggest award yet, approximately $8.5 billion in direct subsidies to Intel along with up to $11 billion in loans.