| Fed holds rate. US borrowing plan slightly less than expected. Bank of England seen keeping its rate unchanged. Here's what you need to know today. The Federal Reserve signaled that a run-up in long-term Treasury yields reduces the impetus to raise interest rates again, even as Chair Jerome Powell left the door open to another hike to tame inflation. While Powell indicated policymakers could raise rates when they meet next month, he also allowed that officials may be done with their tightening campaign. He said he wasn't yet confident to judge whether monetary policy was restrictive enough to bring inflation back to the Fed's 2% target. The central bank held the target range for its benchmark interest rate at 5.25% to 5.5% for a second straight meeting. The S&P 500 rose as Treasury yields tumbled in the US. Vineer Bhansali doesn't sleep much nowadays. Bhansali is the founder of LongTail Alpha LLC, a hedge fund in Newport Beach, California, and he's newly obsessed with what was once among the sleepiest corners of finance: Treasury bonds. With volatility exploding in the long-placid market, he's ordered his fund to shift away from other strategies and boost its focus on Treasuries. For much of the past two decades, most US government debt was sequestered in the vaults of the Federal Reserve, foreign central banks and commercial lenders that used it as a kind of cash reserve. Now bond volatility is returning and bringing new opportunities. The US Treasury increased its planned sales of longer-term securities by slightly less than most dealers expected in its quarterly debt-issuance plan, helping spur a rally in bonds amid the possibility a wave of bigger supply will soon come to an end. The Treasury said it will sell $112 billion of longer-term securities at its so-called quarterly refunding auctions next week, which span 3-, 10- and 30-year Treasuries. Rithm Capital Corp.'s plan to acquire Sculptor Capital Management hit another hurdle Wednesday when four former executives sued the hedge fund firm, alleging the transaction would wipe out about $30 million of shares they own. It's the latest wrinkle in a months-long bidding war for the struggling firm and may provide a fresh opening for a consortium led by hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein, whose higher offers have been repeatedly rejected by Sculptor. The BOE is expected to keep rates unchanged on Thursday. Investors in UK assets are beginning to bet on a de facto increase in the level of inflation the Bank of England will tolerate beyond the official 2% target, two major banks warned. BNY Mellon Investment Management and Bank of America said in separate notes to clients inflation expectations indicated in markets suggest investors think the BOE will let inflation remain above the target for some time, potentially damaging the credibility of the central bank and its goal. New from Bloomberg: Get the What's Moving China Markets newsletter, a daily Chinese-language briefing and audio broadcast. 点击订阅《彭博财经早茶》。 Here's what caught our eye over the past 24 hours. And finally, here's what Garfield is interested in this morning.
Investors are busy cheering the Federal Reserve's more cautious stance, which looks to be cementing the perception that the US central bank's cash rate has reached its peak. That may be a step too far, given how much concern policymakers expressed in their statement about the need to be vigilant on inflation amid still-strong economic indicators. Australia's example on this front offers a cautionary tale. The Reserve Bank has been among the more dovish among developed-nation peers, outside Japan, and yet it's strongly expected to raise interest rates next week to end a four-meeting pause — and then the building consensus is it will hike again in 2024. The central bank Down Under interrupted its tightening cycle amid signs of softer consumer demand and concerns about surging mortgage rates, and the potential for a delayed impact from 400 basis points of hikes. But with elevated inflation and a strong jobs market, the RBA is seen as having no choice but to act. The Fed's situation is different, but similar. It cited concerns about soaring yields and policy lags as it held rates on Wednesday. The market looks to be underpricing the potential that it too will end up being pushed into fresh hikes. | 
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