Weekly Market Commentary 05/05/2017

The Federal Reserve continues to see the economy through a glass that is half-full. At its latest policy meeting this week, it kept rates unchanged at 0.75%-1.00%, as expected, but reaffirmed its intention to gradually bring rates up to normal levels over the balance of this year and beyond. Barring a major surprise, the next rate increase is widely expected at the June meeting. That would be the second of three hikes the central bank has planned for this year, following the quarter-point increase taken at the March meeting. Needless to say, policy makers are not deeply concerned over the raft of recent data showing weakening growth and slowing inflation.