According to Golden Finance, Ed Hyman of Evercore ISI, one of Wall Street's most prominent and respected economists, expects the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday and ultimately achieve a soft landing. "I would be shocked if they didn't cut by 50 basis points tomorrow," Hyman, the firm's founder and chairman, said in an interview. Hyman's shift comes at a critical moment for the US economy and financial markets. Expectations are widespread that the Fed will begin its first interest rate cut in over four years, while the S&P 500 index hovers near all-time highs. But the key question is the size of the Fed's rate cut. Recent economic data showing resilient US consumer demand has pushed the market-implied probability of a 50 basis point cut on Wednesday to around 55%. Hyman said he made a "very difficult decision" last week to raise his US GDP forecast for the fourth quarter to 1%, a stark reversal from his firm's economic research team's earlier prediction of a 2% decline.