After slashing interest rates by a half-percentage point today, the Federal Reserve’s “dot plot” showed that officials project another half-percentage point of cuts this year with further reductions ahead in 2025.

Fed officials' message to markets in their latest so-called dot plot: Expect deeper rate cuts by next year than we anticipated just a few months ago. Fourteen of the 19 of central bankers penciled in rate cuts of at least 2 percentage points by the end of next year,

Every three months since January 2012, the Federal Reserve has sent analysts scurrying by updating its “dot plot,” which has become the de facto monetary policy forecast of the US central bank — whether the Fed wants it to be or not.

Federal Reserve officials are scheduled on Wednesday to announce an interest-rate decision and release a fresh set of economic projections. Policymakers have held interest rates in a range of 5.25 to 5.