The third sentence, however, observed the elevated inflation (which the Fed naturally blamed on Putin because otherwise Biden would fire Powell): "Inflation remains elevated, reflecting supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic, higher food and energy prices, and broader price pressures."

This, as Renaissance Macro's Neil Dutta put it best, means that "the Fed marked down its growth assessment and still ended up going as much as it did in June."

Translation: stagflation is here, and it is persistent.

For those who missed our extended kneejerk response to the FOMC statement, here is a snap analysis courtesy of Newsquawk

The FOMC lifted rates by 75bps to 2 25-2.50%. as was expected taking rates back to neutral for the first time since 2019. The only major tweak to the statement was its reassessment of the economy the Fed now acknowledges that "recent indicators of spending and production has softened"' (recall it previously said that overall economic activity appears to have picked up after edging down in the first quarter').