Year’s hot inflation met with feverish rate hikes

Wall Street expects the impact of the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive year of interest rate hikes in at least three decades to continue to be felt through next year.

The central bank’s plan to fight stubbornly high prices on everything from food to clothing has been the central focus for Wall Street in 2022. The Fed’s benchmark rate currently stands at 3.75% to 4%, up from close to zero in March. That marks the sharpest rise since at least 1990 and the rate is expected to increase by another halfpercentage point at the Fed’s final policy meeting in December. It could go higher than 5% in 2023.

As the economy bounced back from the virus pandemic, supply chains couldn’t keep up with demand. A spike in oil and gasoline prices earlier in the