Fed expected to hike rates by three-quarters of a point again, but its forecast may matter most

It’s not what the Federal Reserve does, but what it says it could do in the future that will be most crucial when the central bank ends its two-day meeting Wednesday.

The Fed is expected to fire off another three-quarter point rate hike — its third in a row. It will also release quarterly forecasts for inflation, the economy, and the future path of interest rates Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET.

The Fed’s projections are always important, but this time they are even more so because investors have been trying...