The Federal Reserve will surprise a lot of investors by keeping the status quo on interest rates this week, Brown Brothers Harriman strategist Charles Blood tells Dow Jones. He reasons there's "little evidence the broader economy is downshifting" below the 2 to 3 per cent GDP growth trend that's persisted since the middle of last year. And the stock market won't struggle as a result. "Our base case scenario calls for a rise in stock prices driven by a combination of slower, but still positive, corporate profit growth and a liquidity-induced increase in the market's price/earnings multiple," he offers.