The outlook for U.S. stocks in 2022 continues to be very bright. At its December 15, 2021 meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) projected three interest rate increases of ¼% each in 2022 and 2023 and two more in 2024. If implemented, these increases would result in historically low Federal Funds rates of 0.75%-1.00% at the end of 2022, 1.5%-1.75% at the end of 2023, and 2%-2.25% at the end of 2024. Core PCE inflation, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, is projected to equal 4.4% in 2021, but decline to 2.7% in 2022, 2.3% in 2023, and 2.1% in 2024.
