Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is known for providing clear signals about the central bank’s next interest rate move in order to avoid roiling markets. But Wall Street was mostly clueless this week when it came to predicting how big a rate cut the Fed would deliver on Wednesday.

Spurred on by the Federal Reserve Board's half-point cut in interest rates, the stock market closed out a buoyant week on Friday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending in record-high territory.

A Federal Reserve official predicted quarter point rate cuts if data looked ‘fine’. But he also set out a scenario for a pause — or faster reductions.