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First Republic Strain Poses Question for Fed as It Weighs Rate Hike
First Republic Bank’s continuing struggles raise the possibility that the Federal Reserve could decide to pause interest-rate increases next week, though investors still see it moving ahead. “We cannot rule out the possibility developments around First Republic could unfold in a manner that would lead the FOMC to skip May while signaling a hike in June,” Evercore ISI’s Krishna Guha and Peter Williams wrote in a note in clients. Fed policymakers, who are in a self-imposed blackout ahead of the May 2-3 Federal Open Market Committee meeting, have signaled they are on track to raise rates by a quarter point and ... (full story)