The Federal Reserve on Wednesday decided against raising interest rates, waiting for a bit more confirmation that the economy is on solid ground.
Because there was no post-decision press conference scheduled this month, the Fed’s failure to raise rates was in line with market expectations.
A move is far move likely in September or December when Fed Chair Janet Yellen has the opportunity to calm investor fears at scheduled press conferences.
However, the Fed did not tip its hand about a September rate hike, as today’s press release differed only cosmetically from the statement that followed its June meeting.
The only hint about tightening in September was in the form of a modest upgrade of the Fed’s outlook for the labor market.
“The labor market continued to improve, with solid job gains and declining unemployment,” the Fed said.
“On balance, a range of labor market indicators suggests that underutilization of labor resources has diminished since early this year.”
It was the 53rd meeting in a row where the Fed kept rates at zero.
Policy makers did not express much concern about potential shocks to the U.S. economy such as a meltdown in Chinese equities or the Greek crisis roiling Europe.
On the outlook for inflation, members said consumer prices would remain low for the medium term.
This suggests the Fed could easily wait until December without worrying that easy monetary policy will generate runway inflation. There have been no changes to the Fed’s characterization of inflation in recent statements.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com