With the S&P 500 Index up about 19% for the year to date, equity investors appear to be cheering the Federal Reserve’s ability to deliver an economic soft landing. But despite solid economic growth and falling overall inflation, the Fed may not yet be ready to deliver the five interest rate cuts by December 2024 that bullish investors are expecting. Economic growth certainly has been notable, particularly amid one of the most aggressive cycles in decades for monetary policy tightening. During the second quarter of 2023, the U.S. economy grew by an annualized 2.4% on an inflation-adjusted basis. Not only was this ... (full story)