Between March 2022 and July 2023, the Federal Reserve aggressively raised benchmark interest rates to put a lid on inflation that had reached its highest levels in more than four decades. Those rate hikes put a damper on markets, and companies have been hesitant to issue debt amid uncertainty about where rates will go from here.

One stock that suffered was Moody's (NYSE: MCO), which saw its primary revenue source take a hit. But the company, one of the longest-held positions in Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio, weathered the challenges well. And, with the Fed signaling that it's done raising rates for this cycle and could cut them in 2024, Moody's could benefit in a big way.

When inflation first began to pick up in 2021, the Fed was slow to respond. The central bank's leaders pointed to supply chain disruptions as the primary culprit, and they predicted that the inflationary pressures would be temporary. However, by early 2022, it was clear that higher inflation wasn't going to ease on its own, and that the Fed needed to act.

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Source Fool.com