This week’s FOMC meeting has adjourned with an announcement of another quarter-point rate hike to key short-term interest rates. This was not a surprise to the markets, but the post meeting statement has caused the bond and stock markets to move well into negative territory. The Dow is currently down 63 points while the Nasdaq has fallen 6 points. The bond market is currently down 21/32, which will likely lead to afternoon increases in mortgage rates of approximately .250 of a discount point.

The post-meeting statement said that more rate hikes are needed to keep prices and economic growth in balance. This raised inflation concerns and led to this afternoon’s bond and stock selling. Market participants were expecting the Fed rate hikes to end in the near future. This was the fifteenth consecutive rate hike, which had many traders assuming the end was near. It appears now that the end of the campaign is unknown