Economics
Fed Scales Back Rate-Rise Forecasts as Global Risks Remain
- Yellen calls April a `live meeting' when asked about next hike
- Kansas City Fed chief dissents in favor of 25-point rate rise
Janet Yellen's Statement in Two Minutes
This article is for subscribers only.
Federal Reserve officials held off from raising borrowing costs and scaled back forecasts for how high interest rates will rise this year, citing the potential impact from weaker global growth and financial-market turmoil on the U.S. economy.
The Federal Open Market Committee kept the target range for the benchmark federal funds rate at 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent, the central bank said in a statement Wednesday following a two-day meeting in Washington. The median of policy makers’ updated quarterly projections saw the rate at 0.875 percent at the end of 2016, implying two quarter-point increases this year, down from four forecast in December.