The Federal Reserve will likely hold interest rates steady for a fourth straight meeting but avoid signaling an imminent interest-rate cut. The Federal Open Market Committee is poised to keep rates in a range of 5.25% to 5.5% at its two-day policy meeting ending Wednesday, a 22-year high first reached in July. The rate decision … Read more
By Mohamed A. El-Erian Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech Friday at the annual Jackson Hole forum was consistent with his very gradual and highly measured approach to policy changes – an approach that financial markets love as it implies a longer period of very loose liquidity that fuels ever higher asset prices. The real … Read more
Federal Reserve officials widely concluded that they had attained their inflation goal while still needing progress on their employment mandate, the record of their July meeting showed. “Most participants judged that the Committee’s standard of ‘substantial further progress’ toward the maximum-employment goal had not yet been met,” minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s July … Read more
By Catarina Saraiva Federal Reserve officials were cautiously optimistic about the US economic recovery at the central bank’s April meeting, with some officials signaling they’d be open to discussing scaling back the central bank’s massive bond purchases “at some point.” “A number of participants suggested that if the economy continued to make rapid progress toward … Read more
By Craig Torres Federal Reserve officials strengthened their assessment of the economy on Wednesday and signaled that risks have diminished while leaving their policy interest rate near zero and maintaining a $120 billion monthly pace of asset purchases. “Amid progress on vaccinations and strong policy support, indicators of economic activity and employment have strengthened,” the … Read more
By Craig Torres Federal Reserve officials last month saw it taking some time before the conditions would be met for scaling back their massive asset-purchase campaign. “Participants noted that it would likely be some time until substantial further progress toward the Committee’s maximum-employment and price-stability goals would be realized,” according to minutes from the March … Read more
By Craig Torres Federal Reserve officials continued to project near-zero interest rates at least through 2023, while upgrading their economic outlook to reflect greater optimism over the US recovery from Covid-19 amid a surge in Treasury yields. “Following a moderation in the pace of the recovery, indicators of economic activity and employment have turned up … Read more
By Matthew Boesler Federal Reserve officials left their benchmark interest rate unchanged near zero as they flagged a moderating U.S. recovery and reiterated a pledge to use all available tools to support the economy during the coronavirus pandemic. The central bank’s policy-making body also repeated it would maintain its bond-buying program at the current pace … Read more
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is expected to maintain the central bank’s aggressive support of the US economy, despite having spied “light at the end of the tunnel” from the Covid-19 pandemic. The Federal Open Market Committee is all but certain to hold interest rates near zero at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting … Read more
By Catarina Saraiva The Federal Reserve left interest rates near zero and signaled it would hold them there through at least 2023 to help the US economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The Federal Open Market Committee “expects to maintain an accommodative stance of monetary policy” until it achieves inflation averaging 2% over time and … Read more