economists said federal reserve chair jerome powell will have a tricky job this afternoon balancing the continued need to bat down inflation with rising concerns of instability in banks the fed still has work to do and their actions and communications are going to come under increasing scrutiny given the events of the past few days said vanguard senior economist andrew patterson they need to be careful in balancing the risks of price and financial stability joseph davis the firms global chief economist said the central bank has to walk a delicate line and whatever decision the fed makes economists say will result in criticism luke bartholomew senior economist at abrdn said he agrees with the consensus prediction that the central bank will approve an interest rate hike of a quarter of a percentage point but he said that decision marks a shift from before the banking crisis when a half percentage point hike was considered a more likely possibility the fed faces a very tough decision this week bartholomew said just a couple of weeks ago chair powell seemed to be preparing the ground for the fed to raise rates by 50bps in march in response to concerns about the inflation outlook however the rolling bank sector crisis now means many investors are expecting the fed to keep policy on hold this week to avoid inflicting any more stress on markets