LIVE MARKETS-Fed holds; stocks, yields little changed in reaction

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FED HOLDS; STOCKS, YIELDS LITTLE CHANGED IN REACTION

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, a choice that may intensify questions about how U.S. central bank chief Kevin Warsh will deliver on his commitment to bring inflation back down to the 2% target.

Based on interest rate probabilities, 36.3 basis points (bps) of hikes are now expected through year-end 2026 vs. 45.5 bps before the statement hit the wires.

The S&P 500 index .SPX is now off about 0.5% on the day vs. a loss of about 0.6% just before the statement was released.

The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield US10YT=RR is now around 4.64% vs. 4.65% before the statement came out. The yield ended Tuesday at 4.604%.

Regarding the Fed's statement, Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments in New York, said:

"The market's breathing a collective sigh of relief that the Fed did not raise rates. There was a fear built in that the Fed would raise rates and choke the economy. That did not happen. So this is considered an easy money decision."

"Remember markets are driven a lot by fear and emotions... By not raising, that, in and of itself, alleviated a lot of pressure."

Here is a snapshot of where markets stood on the day around 2:20 p.m. EDT:

Investors now await Fed Chair Warsh's press conference at 2:30 p.m. EDT.

(Terence Gabriel, Caroline Valetkevitch)

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