Barclays: The risk tends to the Fed delaying the rate cut this year

PANews reported on March 17th, according to Jinshi, that the Federal Reserve is expected to maintain its policy interest rate this week. However, Barclays economists warn that the impact of tariff shocks could be more severe than what the FOMC shows in its Summary of Economic Projections (SEP). They stated in a research report: "We believe that this year's risk tends towards delaying interest rate cuts."

Barclays expects that the Fed's SEP will show rising inflation and unemployment expectations, and declining GDP growth. But Barclays economists predict a greater slowdown in GDP and an increase in inflation than shown by the SEP. They added: "Although we expect the SEP to show one benchmark interest rate cut this year, we still believe that the committee will eventually cut rates twice this year in June and September, each time by 25 basis points."