Analysis-Fed’s rate cut comes with caveats, leaving investors lukewarm

By Davide Barbuscia and Suzanne McGee

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Investors look set to face a volatile few months ahead after the Federal Reserve resumed interest rate cuts and opened the door to further easing but tempered its message with warnings of sticky inflation, sowing doubt over the pace of future policy adjustments.

Some investors are now less certain that a rapid shift to lower borrowing costs will materialize, potentially dampening optimism that stocks and bonds would get a strong lift from easier policy. Adding to the uncertainty was a wide variety of views within the Fed on the future path of rates.

“We’ve had a rather cautious, not necessarily fully defensive… view here for a while,” which was “reinforced” by the Fed’s message, said Larry Hatheway, global investment strategist at the Franklin Templeton Institute.

Hatheway added that many in the market would likely be slightly disappointed at the lack of clarity and direction from the Fed, which stopped short of endorsing market expectations for a clear string of rate cuts, emphasizing a meeting-by-meeting, data-dependent approach.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the Fed lowered its policy rate by 25 basis points to a range of 4%-4.25%, its first cut since December, and signaled a gradual easing cycle in response to mounting labor market concerns. At the same time, Fed Chair Jerome Powell highlighted “a challenging situation” for policymakers, noting that risks to inflation were tilted to the upside and risks to employment to the downside.

The comments dampened market optimism despite a much hoped-for dovish shift after recent data that showed unemployment climbing to 4.3% in August and payrolls growing far less than expected. A steep downward revision to benchmark jobs figures for the year through March also recently added weight to the view that the labor market is losing steam, bolstering the case for multiple rate cuts ahead.

The U.S. central bank’s release on Wednesday of updated quarterly economic projections, including rate forecasts issued in a chart known as the “dot plot”, reflected expectations of more easing this year when compared to the ‘dots’ from the June meeting, with 50 basis points in cuts seen before year end.

At the same time, the Fed’s projections still put inflation ending this year at 3%, well above the central bank’s 2% target, while its projection for economic growth was slightly higher at 1.6% versus 1.4%.

“Markets may welcome the easing bias, but the messaging remains nuanced and far from a full pivot,” said Dan Siluk, head of global short duration and liquidity, and a portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors.