The central bank’s projections for fewer rate cuts this year and Powell’s seemingly hawkish comments at his press conference on Wednesday didn’t prevent the S&P 500 Index from eclipsing 5,400 for the first time ever, which also happened on Wednesday and held through at least Friday. The benchmark is up more than 50% since hitting a bottom in October 2022, during a bear market triggered by the Fed’s drastic interest rate increases that started in March 2022 and were aimed at taming runaway inflation.
