Skip to content
Subscriber Only
Markets
Economics

Fed Has Big Decision to Make About Giving More Guidance on Rates

  • Forward guidance may be discussed at April 28-29 FOMC meeting
  • Current guidance, issued before mass layoffs began, is vague
Federal Reserve Exterior As Fed Looks Locked In For Quarter-Point Cut
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has already cut interest rates to nearly zero, but he still has to decide if more should be said about how long they will stay there.

U.S. central bankers have been busy rolling out emergency lending facilities to provide liquidity to an economy largely shut down by the coronavirus pandemic. It’s taken them away from the primary object of their attention in more normal times: deliberating over where to set borrowing costs.