Powell’d! S&P 500 Index Drops -2.35% On Failure Of Fed Pivot (“Very Premature To Be Thinking About Pausing)

Markets are getting stranger than the Paul Pelosi hammer attack.

The S&P 500 index tanked -2.35% after Powell and The Fed failed to pivot.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell opened a new phase in his campaign to regain control of inflation, saying US interest rates will go higher than previously projected, but the path may soon involve smaller hikes.

Addressing reporters Wednesday after the Fed raised rates by 75 basis points for the fourth time in a row, Powell said “incoming data since our last meeting suggests that ultimate level of interest rates will be higher than previously expected.”

Powell said is it would be appropriate to slow the pace of increases “as soon as the next meeting or the one after that. No decision has been made,” he said, while stressing that “we still have some ways” before rates were tight enough.

“It is very premature to be thinking about pausing,” he said.

Fed Funds Futures data point now to a June peak in the target rate of 5.055%, then a decline.