In today’s Federal Open Market Committee's March rate decision and press conference, officials raised interest rates by 25 basis points to a new target range of 4.75% to 5%. The unanimous decision was made due to persistently high inflation, necessitating further rate hikes. The Fed Chair emphasized the soundness of the banking system and the steps taken to provide liquidity, while acknowledging the uncertainty surrounding the impact of banking disruptions on lending conditions and economic growth. If lending significantly declines, the Fed may not need to raise rates as aggressively.
Year-end interest rate projections remained at 5.1%, consistent with December's estimates, although some officials predicted a marginally more hawkish rate trajectory. Policymakers left the balance sheet runoff unchanged, continuing to reduce bond holdings by up to $95 billion monthly. The Fed Chair highlighted the distinction between the growing balance sheet due to new liquidity programs and its separation from monetary policy.
During the press conference, stocks initially rose but later reversed direction. The S&P 500 declined 0.4%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.5%, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell over 1%. Market participants pointed to the Fed Chair's comments on openness to additional rate hikes if needed and the Treasury Secretary's statement that FDIC insurance backing for all bank deposits has not been considered.
I traded until 3pm, met my daily target and walked away.
We had BULL LIS of 48 and then the market tanked in the last hour..
Also caught the bounce off 24 at the start of Powell speech so that was cool.
Another small note about risk management.
If you are turning green days into red or losing more than allowable max loss daily, you can check out the Discipline Manager addon for Ninjatrader.
https://tremper.com/disciplinemanager.php
It has daily/weekly loss limits and dynamic drawdown limits from the top gain of the day.
I have personally not used this tool but my friends have and they have said good words about it. You can try it for 30 days free, so no harm in trying.
Moving on,
Plan for tonight’s session is as follows.
ES: