The Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that interest rates will remain unchanged following the March FOMC meeting. Fed officials also released an updated Summary of Economic Projections which revealed that nine officials believe three interest rate cuts will still happen within the year. With US equities (^GSPC, ^DJI, ^IXIC) breaking above the flatline after the announcement, investors are wondering how Fed policies may influence the momentum of market rallies. Key Private Bank CIO George Mateyo and Dartmouth College Economics Professor Andrew Levin join Yahoo Finance to discuss the outcomes of the FOMC meeting and the Fed's focus as far as markets are concerned. Mateyo elaborates on how the markets react to the Fed's announcement: "I think that the Fed has kind of stepped away to take away near-term risk. I thought, frankly, coming into today's report we might see some volatility, perhaps even a selloff if in fact the Fed adjusted policy as I suggested they might have. The fact that they didn't do that, however, suggests that maybe to some market participants, it is all clear." When asked if the Fed should change their goal of 2% target inflation, Levin — a former Federal Reserve Board Special Adviser — responds: "I think that if the Fed were to change the target upward further, it would be a more clear deviation from what the law says and I think that they would to have congressional hearings to discuss, either Congress changes the mandated and gives them more latitude... or the Fed has to get inflation back down on a sustained basis..." For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live. Editor's note: This article was written by Nicholas Jacobino

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