TALK about silver linings. The US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 75 basis points on Wednesday (Jul 27) and the stock market actually rallied – all because chairman Jerome Powell said “maybe” he won’t do it again.

Some strategists warned, however, that the stock market could return to focus on the dark bulk of the cloud as Wednesday’s events sink in. The relief was logical, to a certain extent, “You had the idea of a 100 basis-point jump which I think some people were still concerned about,” said Oliver Pursche, senior vice-president at financial advisory Wealthspire.

Some also detected a marginally more dovish tone than recent central-bank statements. The Fed noted slowing economic data and promised to pay heed to the data when deciding whether to do another jumbo rate hike.