Economist Hyman expects a soft landing for the economy as the Fed cuts rates by 50 basis points this week

Evercore ISI's Ed Hyman, one of Wall Street's most watched and respected economists, expects the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday and ultimately achieve a soft landing. ‘I'd be shocked if they didn't cut rates 50 basis points tomorrow,’ Hyman, the firm's founder and chairman, said in an interview.Hyman's shift comes at a critical time for the U.S. economy and financial markets. The Fed is widely expected to embark on its first rate cut in more than four years, and the S&P 500 is hovering near record highs. But the key question is the extent of the Fed's rate cuts. After the latest economic data showed U.S. consumer demand tough, the decision makers on Wednesday to cut interest rates by 50 basis points of the implied probability of the market reached about 55%. Hyman said last week he made a ‘very difficult decision’, the U.S. fourth-quarter GDP forecasts to growth of 1 per cent, which is the company's economic research team had previously predicted a decline of 2% in contrast. The forecast was for a 2 per cent fall, the opposite of what the firm's economic research team had previously predicted.