Equities finished January with a third straight monthly gain but ended on a sour note with the S&P 500 slumping 1.6% for its worst single-day loss in over four months. As widely expected, on January 31 the Federal Reserve held rates unchanged at 5.25%-5.50% for a fourth straight meeting. While Fed Chairman Powell acknowledged that rates are likely at their peak, he doubts that 2024 rate cuts will begin in March. Policymakers won’t likely have sufficient confidence by March that inflation has sustainably moved toward the 2% target. Powell’s “not March” comments thus shifted Wall Street’s majority expectations for the first 2024 rate cut to begin in May instead of March.