The doom-and-gloom scenario of an all-but-inevitable recession seemed to be replaced by something that looked like optimism around the prospect of a soft landing.

The Fed finally hit "pause" on interest rate increases in June after fifteen months and ten consecutive rate hikes, and it’s become clear that it is only a brief pause.

Throughout the month, the markets focused on the debt ceiling negotiations and the likely impact to government spending – or at least the increased uncertainty around what spending would be. At the end of the month, the FOMC minutes from the early May meeting were released.

The biggest news in the Fed’s statement after their meeting on May 3 was what it didn’t say.