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It’s Federal Reserve meeting day and it could be one of the most important recent meetings monetary policy makers, as concerns about inflationary pressures, COVID-19 and geopolitical risks buffet markets.
The rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, will release its policy statement at 2 p.m. Eastern Time and Chairman Jerome Powell will host a news conference a half-hour later.
Some market watchers blame weakness in the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
COMP,
and Monday’s initial broad stock-market fall, which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
plunge more than 1,000 points and the S&P 500 slide 4% at its session low, on expectations the Fed won’t snap back into hand-holding mode, though equities were on the rise on Wednesday.
Check out: How Jerome Powell may try to calm the market’s frazzled nerves
The Fed is likely to spend its Jan. 25-26 meeting laying the groundwork for a further shift in policy, which the market is attempting to price into valuations, amid a surge in inflation.
See:Fed not seen rushing to market rescue
Against the backdrop of all this, join Barron’s Deputy Editor Ben Levisohn and MarketWatch markets editor Mark DeCambre via Zoom at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time for a look inside this week’s moves and the Fed’s plans.
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