The outcome of this week’s FOMC meeting largely met my expectations. The Fed left rates unchanged, following through on their signaling from the October meeting. More importantly, this month’s dot-plot indicates that the vast majority of FOMC participants believe rates will remain unchanged in 2020. Barring a dramatic shift in the direction of the economy, the Fed expects they can drift into the background next year and watch their soft-landing play out. In the FOMC statement, the most notable change was this language in October: This action supports the Committee’s view that sustained expansion of economic activity, ... (full story)