Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen told Congress on Wednesday that the central bank expects to keep raising a key interest rate at a gradual pace and also plans to start trimming its massive bond holdings this year.
The Federal Reserve has raised its key interest rate for the third time in six months, providing its latest vote of confidence in a slow-growing but durable economy.
There isn’t much suspense about what the Fed will announce regarding a rate hike when its latest policy meeting ends Wednesday. But economic observers are watching for additional reasons.
Though widely expected to raise rates this week, Fed policy makers are being pulled in two directions by a spirited drop in unemployment this year and a surprisingly listless reaction in wages and prices.
A statement the Fed issued Wednesday after its latest policy meeting noted that the economy slowed sharply during the January-March quarter but that it expects that slump to be “transitory.”
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen did not specifically address the timing for future rate hikes, but her remarks support the view that future hikes are coming.
The move reflects a consistently solid U.S. economy and will likely mean higher rates on some consumer and business loans.
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said in a speech in Chicago that the Federal Reserve expects steady economic improvement to justify additional rate increases.
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said more interest-rate increases will be appropriate if the U.S. economy meets the central bank’s outlook of gradually rising inflation and tightening labor markets.
New projections show the central bankers expect three separate quarter-point rate increases in 2017, up from the two seen in the previous forecasts.
The Fed last increased rates in December a year ago, when it hiked its benchmark rate from a record low set at the depths of the 2008 financial crisis.
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen sketched a picture Thursday of an improving U.S. economy. The Fed is widely expected to raise the federal funds rate when it meets in mid-December.
With voters set to choose a new president and Congress in six days, the Federal Reserve will likely keep a low profile when it ends a meeting Wednesday to try to ensure it doesn't become part of the debate at the close of a tumultuous political campaign.
The Fed made clear in updated forecasts it issued Wednesday that it expects growth to remain tepid for at least three years.
U.S. factory output fell, consumers cut back at retailers and wholesale prices went nowhere in August, the latest evidence of a less-than-robust economy.
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen sketched a generally upbeat assessment of the economy in a speech to an annual conference of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The central bank gave no hint of when it might resume the rate hikes it began in December, when it raised its benchmark rate from a record low.
The Fed is expected to issue a statement that acknowledges the strengthening economy without providing much explanation about when the next rate hike might occur.
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said Tuesday that the U.S. economy faces numerous uncertainties that compel the Fed to proceed cautiously in raising interest rates.
The Federal Reserve noted after its latest policy meeting that the pace of job growth has slowed even as the overall economy has improved.
