Xinhua Silk Road - Belt and Road Portal, China's silk road economic belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Website Xinhua Silk Road - Belt and Road Portal, China's silk road economic belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Website
Subscribe CustomBlackClose

Belt & Road Weekly Subscription Form

download_pop

Research ReportCustomBlackClose

The full edition of the report is available at Xinhua Silk Road Database. You can click the “Table of Content” to have a general understanding of it.

Click on the button below to create your account and get immediate access to thousands of articles.

Start a Free Trial

Xinhua Silk Road Database
Economy

U.S. Fed keeps interest rates unchanged as market expects

May 03, 2018


Abstract : The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept the interest rates unchanged, in line with market expectation, while expressing confidence that inflation is near its 2-percent target.

美联储

WASHINGTON, May 3 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept the interest rates unchanged, in line with market expectation, while expressing confidence that inflation is near its 2-percent target.

"The (Federal Open Market) Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 1.5 to 1.75 percent," said the Fed in a statement after concluding a two-day policy meeting.

The statement showed the central bank's confidence over inflation, acknowledging that core inflation rate have moved close to the central bank's 2-percent target.

"Inflation on a 12-month basis is expected to run near the Committee's symmetric 2 percent objective over the medium term," said the Fed.

In a statement released after the March meeting, the Fed expected the inflation will move up in coming months and to stabilize around the 2-percent target.

By adding "symmetric" to the inflation target, Fed officials might indicate that they would allow inflation to exceed the 2-percent goal somewhat, according to some analysts.

The price index for personal consumption expenditure (PCE), an inflation gauge preferred by the Fed, rose 2 percent from a year ago in March, the biggest increase since February 2017, according to the latest data from the Commerce Department.

Excluding the volatile food and energy prices, the core PCE price index rose 1.9 percent in March, also the largest increase since February 2017.

Despite the strengthened confidence over inflation, the Fed failed to indicate whether it would step up interest rate hike pace or not in the future. Instead, it reiterated that the central bank would continue to gradually tighten the monetary policy further.

Wednesday's statement showed that the central bank remain optimistic about the economic outlook, saying that business investment continued to grow strongly and that risks to economic outlook appear roughly balanced.

Market investors are expecting that the Fed would raise interest rates for the second time this year in their next policy meeting in June.

In view of recent improved inflation data, investors also expected that the central bank might raise interest rates by a total of three to four times this year.

Scan the QR code and push it to your mobile phone

Keyword: Interest-rate Federal-Reserve

Write to Us belt & road login close

Do you want to be a contributor to Xinhua Silk Road and tell us your Belt & Road story? Send your articles to [email protected] and share your stories with more people.

Click on the button below to create your account and get im http://img.silkroad.news.cn/templates/silkroad/en2017te access to thousands of articles.

Start a Free Trial

Ask Us A Question belt & road login close

If you have any questions, please enter them in the box below.

Identifying code Reload

Write to Us belt & road login close

Do you want to be a contributor to Xinhua Silk Road and tell us your Belt & Road story? Send your articles to silkroadweekly@xinhua.org and share your stories with more people.

Click on the button below to create your account and get im http://img.silkroad.news.cn/templates/silkroad/en2017te access to thousands of articles.

Start a Free Trial