You're listening to Closing Bell in Progress.

That was Fed Chair Jerome Powell explaining the Fed's decision to keep interest rates unchanged, also

characterizing the outlook as one where policy is in a good place.

He acknowledged the uncertainty of policy implications from the Trump administration many times,

but conveyed some

flexibility in being able to move in response either to sticky inflation or some challenges

to growth. Welcome to closing bell. I'm Mike Santoli in for Scott Wapner today, live from

Post 9 at the New York Stock Exchange. We have a big show coming up with Wharton Professor

Jeremy Siegel, Charles Schwab's

Lizanne Saunders, and Goldman's Jan Hotsias, will get their first take on Chair Powell's comments.

And joining me on set for the hour is Truitt's Keith Lerner, Keith.

Market found some reassurance in what Powell had to say. For one thing, essentially saying that we really can only consider the

net effects of any future policies, but also suggesting a willingness to look through an uptick

in inflation and still have that outlook for potentially two rate cuts for the remainder of this year.

What's your read on how the market took it? Yeah, well, you're exactly right, Mike. I think he threaded the needle pretty well,

and we also had a pretty oversold market. It's not a surprise that they cut the GDP forecast.

It's not a surprise that we saw the dot plots, the inflation move up as well.

I think maybe somewhat of a surprise is this slowing down of quantitative easing.

And when you look at the 10-year – tightening, I'm sorry, tightening, and you're seeing the 10-year Treasury come down, and that's given a boost to the market.

That is true. That certainly helped. It would seem, and the S&P 500, just for context,

is right up near yesterday's high, up just under 1. half percent at this point. Keith, you're going to stay with me. Let's bring in the Wharton School, Professor of Finance, Jeremy Siegel.

Professor Siegel, what's your first read here?

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