The Federal Open Market Committee raised rates by 25 basis points, as expected. Another rate hike appears likely given the Fed’s Summary of Economic Projections (SEP) (Exhibit 1). An open question remains why the projections do not show even more rate hikes as the forecasts do not show core PCE reaching the target until 2029.
Long-term neutral rate estimates were revised up by 10 basis points, to 3.2% while the forecast skew continues to suggest that this estimate is likely to continue to move higher.
We continue to expect two additional rate hikes this cycle – one in December of 2026 and one in Q1 2027, as the performance comes to an end.
Exhibit 1: The Economic Projections forecast of long-term Fed funds policy rate shows a bias toward continued increases

Note: MetLife Investment Management calculated the midpoints of the high and low range and central tendency estimates.