US Federal Reserve officials, as the market expected, held interest rates steady at their highest level in 23 years.
In their last four meetings (including this one on Jan. 31), U.S. central bank officials made no changes to their policy rate, but debated whether to raise rates further. Now, The Fed is focusing its attention on when rates could be lowered, although several have indicated that they are in no hurry..
The interest rate formula has been the flag of the president of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, to combat the highest inflation in four decades, The Fed raised its benchmark federal funds rate at the fastest pace in 40 years between March 2022 and July 2023, to a range between 5.25% and 5.5% according to data collected by Bloomberg.
“Since then, officials have kept rates steady while inflation has fallen faster than many anticipated.” JP Morgan’s Peter Magleeck told Bloomberg ahead of the Fed’s statement. This has sparked a debate about when to lower nominal interest rates to prevent inflation-adjusted, or “real,” rates from rising further. In December, most officials planned three rate cuts by 2024.
*News in development