What time does it take place?

🔔As the 🏦 U.S. Federal Reserve 🇺🇲 meeting approaches today, financial markets are awaiting the anticipated decisions regarding monetary policy 🧭, which include setting the interest rate 🎯, the accompanying statement, economic forecasts, as well as the press conference of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. These decisions are pivotal as they will significantly impact the U.S. dollar, as well as stock and commodity markets such as gold and oil.

✨Currently, speculation is increasing about the direction of the Federal Reserve after U.S. inflation has dropped faster than expected. Recent data showed that the Consumer Price Index recorded an annual growth of 2.8% in February, lower than expectations of 2.9%. Additionally, core inflation showed a notable slowdown, reaching 3.1%. This situation reinforces expectations that the Federal Reserve may decide to lower interest rates in the near future.

✨In contrast, labor market data showed mixed signals. A total of 151,000 new jobs were added in February, a figure that is lower than expected, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.1% from 4.0% in the previous month, which may indicate a slowdown in economic activity. Furthermore, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, which is an important measure of inflation for the Federal Reserve, recorded an increase of 0.3% in January, in line with expectations.