Key Points Despite worsening inflation, weakness in the job market convinced the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in September after holding its benchmark rate steady for nine months. Historically, the S&P 500 has returned a median of 13% during the year following the first cut after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady for at least six months. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell recently warned stocks are richly valued; the S&P 500 trades at 22.7 times forward earnings, a level see ...