A Fed Pause Is Coming. Stocks May Not Rally When It Arrives.

The long-anticipated pause in the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increases is almost here. The actual news isn’t likely to bring about a surge in stock prices. 

The central bank is making progress in its effort to rein in inflation by raising rates to reduce demand for goods and services. Policy makers want inflation to keep falling, but they don’t want to hurt the economy too badly, and it isn’t clear how much damage is still to come from the nine rates increases they have rolled out over the past year.