Fed holds off on rate hike, but says two more are coming later this year
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday decided against what would have been an 11th consecutive interest rate increase as it measures what the impacts have been from the previous 10. But the decision by the Federal Open Market Committee to hold off on a hike at this meeting came with a projection that another two quarter percentage point moves are on the way before the end of the year.
Investors will be looking for further details from Fed Chair Jerome Powell at his 2:30 p.m. press conference. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 300 points in the wake of the decision. Central bankers following a two-day meeting said they will take another six weeks to see the impacts of policy moves as the Fed fights an inflation battle that lately has shown some promising if uneven signs. The decision left the Fed's key borrowing rate in a target range of 5%-5.25%. «Holding the target range steady at this meeting allows the Committee to assess additional information and its implications for monetary policy,» the post-meeting statement said. The Fed next meets July 25-26.
Markets had widely been anticipating the Fed to «skip» this meeting – officials generally prefer the term to a «pause,» which implies a longer-range plan to keep rates where they are. The expectation leaned heavily against an increase after policymakers, particularly Powell and Vice Chair Philip Jefferson, had indicated that some change in approach could be in order. The surprising aspect of the decision came with the «dot plot» in which the individual members of the Federal Open Market Committee indicate their expectations for rates further out. The dots moved decidedly upward, pushing the median expectation to a funds rate of 5.6% by the end of
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