Jerome Powell, Federal Reserve Leave Interest Rates Unchanged – By Andrew Soergel (US News) / Jan 29 2020
After a busy couple of years for interest rate adjustments, the Fed opened 2020 on a quiet note.
Interest rates were left unchanged following the Federal Open Market Committee’s first full gathering of 2020 – a decision that was widely-expected as senior central bankers take a wait-and-see approach to assessing the health of the U.S. economy after reducing them three times last year.
Citing labor market activity that “remains strong” and economic activity that is “rising at a moderate rate,” Federal Reserve officials indicated in a statement on Monday that they would leave interest rates untouched, at least until they next meet in mid-March.
Should the economy progress as Federal Reserve officials expect this year, uneventful FOMC meetings may be something worth getting used to. Based on monetary policy projections the central bank published last month, most Fed officials believe interest rates will remain unchanged throughout 2020 before being gradually increased in 2021 and 2022.
“Officials have gone out of their way to say that without a ‘material change’ in the outlook for the economy and inflation, there is likely to be no policy adjustments. We do not anticipate any material change in the economic trend and, thus, expect the Fed to remain on hold throughout 2020,” Sam Bullard, managing director and senior economist at Wells Fargo Corporate & Investment Banking, wrote in a research note Tuesday.
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