by Connor Darrell, Head of Investments
As was anticipated by markets, the Federal Reserve increased interest rates last week and officially removed the word “accommodative” from its description of current monetary policy. While parsing words can be trivial, the Fed selects its language very carefully when crafting its statements, and the change represents a symbolic shift in how the Fed views the current rate environment. The days of “easy money” policies are now officially behind us.

Global equity markets were slightly negative in the final week of the third quarter, with U.S. markets pulling back slightly from the all-time highs achieved the week prior. Investors’ attention will now turn to Q3 earnings season, which officially kicks off next week. Factset is currently predicting Q3 earnings growth of 19.3% for S&P 500 companies, which would mark the third highest growth rate since the first quarter of 2011.