Ed Hyman of Evercore ISI, one of Wall Street's most closely watched and respected economists, expects the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday and eventually achieve a soft landing. "I would be shocked if they don't cut rates by 50 basis points tomorrow," Hyman, founder and chairperson of Evercore ISI, said in an interview. Hyman's turnaround comes at a critical time for the U.S. economy and financial marekt. The Fed is widely expected to begin cutting interest rates for the first time in more than four years, and the S & P 500 is hovering near its all-time high. But the key question is how much the Fed will cut rates. The implied market probability of a 50-basis point cut on Wednesday is around 55 percent, following the latest economic data showing resilient U.S. consumer demand. Hyman said he had made a "very difficult decision" last week to raise his US fourth-quarter GDP forecast to 1 per cent growth, the opposite of the 2 per cent fall previously forecast by the firm's economic research team.