“We are committed to achieving and sustaining a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to our 2% goal over time,” Powell said at a press conference following the decision.

He emphasized the Fed will “proceed carefully” as it assesses incoming data and the evolving outlook and risks, echoing remarks he made at the Fed’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming last month.

After raising rates rapidly last year, “now we’re fairly close, we think, to where we need to get,” Powell said.

Eoin Treacy's view

There were no surprises from this Fed meeting. The plan remains to raise rates again or until there is clear evidence the inflation is back under control. The intervals between hikes are lengthening so it is possible they will wait until December to hike but November remains the most likely.

Chairman Powell referred to progress in the unemployment statistics even though the headline figure has not moved much. In fact unemployment made a new recovery high at the last reading so upside follow through would represent a breakout.

Some of the measures I assume the Fed is looking at, like the quit rate or the wage demand growth are certainly improving. The risk, of course, is that unemployment surprises on the upside and inflation does not come down. The next significant data point will be core services less housing on September 29th. A break below 4% would go along way towards

The Nasdaq-100 continues to unwind its overextension relative to the 200-day MA.

The Russell 2000 continues to retreat from the upper side of the distribution below the overhead top formation.

The S&P500 Banks Index is barely steady.

These trends point to deteriorating sentiment among investors as tighter liquidity continues begin to bite.