Federal Reserve policymakers have targeted a “soft landing” for the U.S. economy since beginning their effort a year ago to tame runaway inflation by hiking interest rates. That is, they believed they could do so without sending the U.S. into recession.
But the Fed’s decision to raise rates by a quarter point on March 22, 2023, and modestly lift its projection for how much higher they will go in 2024 does little to ease the growing concerns about the health of regional banks.
