The stock market was volatile last week with fears of bank failures but ended Friday slightly up. At this point it seems that concerns of contagion from SVB and Signature Bank have lessened, but not disappeared, as they are still on many investors’ minds. This week we will see how it impacts Federal Reserve policy making.
Wednesday the Fed will wrap up their 2-day meeting and it’s an important one. Many analysts believe the banking woes will cause the Fed to slow or pause on interest rate hikes. In this meeting the Fed will also reveal their expectations for where interest rates will be in the coming years. This is commonly called the Dot Plot and is released on a quarterly basis, instead of at every meeting, which adds extra significance to this meeting. Also, this meeting’s press relief and Q & A session will be a market moving event as investors look for economic policy guidance after 12 months of continuous rate hikes. Hopefully we’ll better understand how close we are to getting inflation under control, whether the bank failures change interest rate decision making, and whether a soft landing is still a reasonable possibility.
Market movement aside, the surest way to reach your financial goals is by making regular contributions to your accounts. If you haven’t maxed out your annual contribution to your retirement account for 2022, you still can before the deadline on April 18th.
Photograph by: Trac Vu on Unsplash
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