The biggest conundrum of the week may not be what the Fed will do on Wednesday but why the UAW strike is getting more headline space than the imminent government shutdown on Sept. 30. A slightly flippant answer is that the UAW strike is something not seen in a very long time and certainly not this way, whereas the endless Congressional brinkmanship on budgetary matters is old news, boring in its sameness. As of last Friday’s close, the futures market was putting the odds of a rate hike at this week’s meeting at less than 1%. The Fed will release a new batch of economic forecasts as well as “dot plots” that show where policymakers see short-term interest rates heading. Meanwhile, real GDP growth looks steady in Q3. Mixing inflation above target with resilient economic growth puts at risk a prolonged “hold” by the Fed and may tempt it to “hike” at least one more time before year-end. On the wealth planning front, we discuss the new IRS memo, detailing the agency’s priorities for the remainder of 2023 and 2024
Click Here to Read the September 18 2023, Economic Commentary
Click Here to Read the September 18, 2023, Investment Commentary
Click Here to Read the September 18, 2023, Wealth Planning Commentary