On December 19, according to 4E monitoring, the Federal Reserve announced a 25-basis-point rate cut as scheduled on Wednesday, but significantly raised its future policy rate and inflation expectations, expecting only two rate cuts of 50 basis points next year, halving the previous expectation.
After the release of the Fed's dot plot and economic outlook summary, risk aversion sentiment surged, and the three major U.S. stock indexes fell across the board. The S&P 500 index closed down 2.95%, the Dow Jones index fell 2.58%, marking a 10-day losing streak, the longest since 1974, and the Nasdaq closed down 3.56%. Tesla fell more than 8%, leading the tech giants. Crypto concept stocks generally fell, with MSTR down 9.52% and Coinbase down 10.2%.
The Fed's move triggered a collapse in U.S. stocks, and the crypto market saw a major correction. BTC broke below $100,000, and Powell's statement that "the Fed will not hold or intend to hold Bitcoin" added to the selling pressure, with Bitcoin plunging 6.2% to $99,235 at the time of writing. Ethereum briefly touched $3,542, down 7.27%, and altcoins generally saw double-digit declines. Over the past 24 hours, the total liquidation in the crypto market reached $842 million, deepening the market panic. In the foreign exchange and commodity markets, the Fed's sharp cut in rate cut expectations pushed the U.S. dollar index up more than 1% to a two-year high; gold prices fell more than 1% to a one-month low; U.S. crude oil inventories fell, driving up oil prices, but the slower pace of rate cuts dampened the outlook for oil demand, causing oil prices to rebound and erase their gains. After the expected 25-basis-point rate cut to 4.25%-4.50% at this meeting, the Fed's "dot plot" showed that it expects only two more rate cuts by 2025, halving the number of cuts projected in the September dot plot, a more hawkish stance than expected, causing extreme fear in the market. Fed officials also expect two more rate cuts in 2026 and one in 2027.
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