On Monday, the market is not only focused on the situation in the Middle East but also on this week's Federal Reserve meeting. Currently, oil prices remain high, and geopolitical risks have heightened inflation concerns. This round of oil price shocks coincides with the Fed's meeting. Initially, the market was still hoping for further rate cuts this year, but now the bigger worry has shifted to whether rising oil prices will cause inflation to resurge and whether Powell will continue to adopt a dovish stance. The Federal Reserve will hold its meeting from March 17 to 18 this week. In January, it had just kept interest rates unchanged at 3.50% to 3.75% and emphasized that future actions would depend on data, outlook, and risks. By this week, Powell is facing a more complex environment. On one hand, the situation in the Middle East is escalating, bringing about risk-averse sentiment. On the other hand, high oil prices are suppressing the decline in inflation, slowing down expectations for easing. For the market, the most challenging environment is the combination of high oil prices and high interest rates. High-valuation growth stocks, financing-sensitive companies, and businesses without pricing power often face greater pressure. Another data point the Fed is watching is the U.S. February CPI, which rose 0.3% month-on-month and 2.4% year-on-year, with core CPI increasing 2.5% year-on-year. Looking at this set of data alone, inflation seems to be in a slow cooling trend, but the biggest issue is that this data has not fully reflected the new pressures brought by the recent spike in oil prices. This week, almost no one expects the Fed to cut rates, and traders are more inclined to believe that there may be only one rate cut left this year, with some funds even starting to bet that there will be no cuts at all this year. Because of the lack of rate cuts, CRCL's stock price has already soared to over $120 😂.