The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Wednesday, pausing an aggressive inflation fight amid growing optimism.
The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Wednesday, pausing an aggressive inflation fight amid growing optimism that the United States can achieve normal price levels without falling into a recession.
Inflation stands well below its peak last year of over 9%, but remains more than a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate.
The decision to hold interest rates steady affords policymakers time to weigh their next move as a rapid series of previous rate hikes takes full effect.
«The Fed wants to get more information to calibrate when exactly they want to stop raising rates,» William English, a professor of finance at Yale University and a former Fed official, . «There’s a lot of uncertainty.»
The Fed achieved the cooldown with its most aggressive set of rate hikes in more than two decades, making borrowing costs more expensive for everything from homes to boats in an effort to choke off demand and ease price hikes.
Still, resilient economic performance has elicited a surge of optimism about the possibility that the U.
