Market Analysis: As expected, the Federal Reserve maintains interest rates unchanged, the window for another interest rate cut during Powell's term begins to close.

Jerome Powell has two more opportunities to adjust interest rates before his term as Fed chairman ends, but he may not need to. After the Fed decided to keep rates unchanged on Wednesday, Powell said the outlook for the U.S. economy has "clearly improved" and noted signs of stabilization in the job market. This reflects a cautious optimism: Fed officials cut rates three times last fall, but have not seen signs in the latest data indicating a need for further cuts to support the economy. Futures markets do not expect any change in rates before June. By then, Powell's term as chairman will have ended, a new chairman should have already taken office, and another phase of Donald Trump's push for rate cuts may have begun. Perhaps a sign of what's to come is the fact that the only two officials who voted in favor of further rate cuts at this week's decision were Governors Stephen Moore and Christopher Waller, the former on leave from his position as a senior economic adviser to Trump and the latter one of the four candidates on Trump's shortlist for a new chairman. "The window for rate cuts at the Fed under Powell's leadership has effectively closed," said Stephanie Roth, chief economist at Wolfe Research. "He is more optimistic about the labor market and overall economic outlook than before."