Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Fed Day, Wednesday, March 20th, and I'm your host,

Kim Khan. The Federal Reserve gave the markets almost nothing new with its

decision today. No move on rates. Virtually no change in the statement. No shift in

the dot plot projecting three rate cuts in 2024,

and no change in tone from Chairman Jerome Powell.

And that was just fine with stock and lawn bulls.

Stots rallied sharply gaining steam from the release through Powell's Press Conference.

The S&P 500 sent a new record high above 5200.

The NASDAQ rose more than 1%.

Stephanie Link, chief investment strategist at High Tower Advisors, says a soft landing and a benign

Fed are positive for earnings and stocks, but more importantly the broadening in sectors continues.

Treasury Guilds fell with more pressure on the short end, the two years back close continues. more than 1% while the greenback gave up earlier gains.

For the record, the Fed kept rates in the range of 5.5%.

With the actual decision of foregone conclusion, the focus was on the summary of economic

projections or the dot plot and it looks like the recent round of hot inflation data hasn't prompted a knee jerk haucous reaction from the FOMC.

The dot plot still shows three quarter-point rate cuts in 2024, although one fewer in 2025.

For the fact that the medium dot stayed steady for this year despite anticipation of hotter growth and inflation,

indicates Fed members are still comfortable

with the path they're on. The Fed boosted its real GDP growth forecast to 2.1% this year,

up from a previous forecast of 1.4%.

Core PCE inflation is seen up 2.6% versus the previous estimate of 2.4%.

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