Economic news

Fed leaves rates unchanged, acknowledges economy is ‘strong’

2023.11.01 14:41


© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The U.S. Federal Reserve building in Washington, D.C./File Photo

By Howard Schneider

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday but left the door open to a further increase in borrowing costs in a policy statement that acknowledged the U.S. economy’s surprising strength, but also nodded to the tighter financial conditions faced by businesses and households.

“Economic activity expanded at a strong pace in the third quarter,” the U.S. central bank said in a policy statement after a two-day meeting in which officials unanimously agreed to leave the benchmark overnight interest rate in the 5.25%-5.50% range where it has been since July.

The language marked an upgrade to the “solid pace” of activity the Fed saw as of its September meeting, and followed on recent data that showed U.S. gross domestic product grew at a 4.9% annual rate in the third quarter.

Though markets think the Fed may be done raising its policy rate, with financial conditions tightening on their own through higher market-based interest rates, data pointing to a stronger-than-expected economy and labor market have kept the prospect of another hike on the table.

The Fed’s latest statement noted that with job gains still “strong” and inflation still “elevated,” the central bank continues to consider “the extent of additional policy firming that may be appropriate to return inflation to 2% over time.”

Fed Chair Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT) to elaborate on the statement and an economic outlook that, so far, has defied expectations of an imminent slowdown.

His words may take on particular importance to investors trying to divine whether the Fed still plans to raise rates again, as a majority of its officials indicated in a September round of economic projections.

The policy statement itself has become increasingly spare as officials have become less certain about their next move, balancing a sluggish but continuing fall in inflation against a sense the economy is likely to slow in coming months, and concern that pushing too much harder with rate increases could cause it to slow more than needed.

The statement said the Fed was still watching the developing impact of its past rate hikes as it mulled further action, cognizant of “the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments.”

The phrase has been used to indicate a degree of patience in deciding on further rate increases, and an acknowledgement that the full impact of the 5.25 percentage points in rate hikes since March of 2022 has yet to be felt.

Adding to the possible pressure is a rise in market-based interest rates that could further dampen economic growth.

The statement nodded to that possible impact, adding a reference to tighter financial conditions as one of the factors “likely to weigh on economic activity,” with still uncertain effects.

Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 98,534.40 0.36%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,435.44 2.85%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.15%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 259.10 1.45%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 660.51 2.75%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 1.49 4.56%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.445961 5.08%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.06%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 1.09 0.26%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,435.23 2.87%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.215618 4.31%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.606477 39.16%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 42.64 1.98%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 6.40 15.72%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000027 0.33%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 4,065.38 2.84%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 98,017.26 0.80%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 9.32 32.43%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 17.94 7.94%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 521.85 4.01%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 3.53 1.05%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,434.32 2.86%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000021 4.08%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.67 1.72%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 6.40 4.65%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 102.61 1.83%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 13.23 5.70%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.92 7.80%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,620.12 2.97%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.156907 3.60%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 11.88 7.66%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.201123 5.89%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00 0.07%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.591547 13.51%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 30.17 3.23%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 7.98 5.11%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 535.05 3.11%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.155954 0.63%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.47 12.95%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.10%
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000049 2.57%
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 9.30 19.96%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.88325 9.34%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.044433 14.15%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.80 0.47%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.90 20.33%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00 0.14%
dogwifcoin
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 3.36 6.16%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.73 4.08%
celestia
Celestia (TIA) $ 7.47 26.66%