CITIC Securities: It is expected that the Federal Reserve will likely pause interest rate cuts and observe at the next monetary policy meeting.

On December 19, Jinshi Data reported that CITIC Securities research report stated that from the US Federal Reserve's SEP and Powell's speech, the Federal Reserve has obvious concerns about inflation next year. This interest rate meeting is much more hawkish than the market generally expected, but it is consistent with our view that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates twice in 2025. We continue to maintain this view and expect that the Federal Reserve will most likely pause the interest rate cut observation at the next interest rate meeting, or may need to wait until the March meeting to give clearer guidance. The volatility of the US stock market is expected to rise.