FOMC leaves policy unchanged, officials favor 2015 rate hike

FXStreet (Córdoba) – The Federal Open Market Committee decided to leave the target range for federal funds unchanged at 0-0.25% as expected and reaffirmed its rhetoric it will be appropriate to raise rates when it has seen further improvement in the labor market and is reasonably confident that inflation will move back to its 2% target over the medium term.

Meanwhile, the Fed also published economic projections which showed 15 of 17 officials said they expected to start raising short-term interest rates before the end of 2015 and the median funds rate is seen at 0.625%. The end-2016 forecast is for a 1.625% rate, , while the median expected interest rate target for the close of 2017 stands at 2.875%.

In the forecasts, Fed officials expect GDP to grow between 1.8% and 2.0% this year, from the 2.3% to 2.7% rise they predicted in March.

The statement is to be followed by a press conference at 18:30 GMT in which Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen will answer questions about the statement and the state of the US economy.

The Federal Open Market Committee decided to leave the target range for federal funds unchanged at 0-0.25% as expected and reaffirmed its rhetoric it will be appropriate to raise rates when it has seen further improvement in the labor market and is reasonably confident that inflation will move back to its 2% target over the medium term.

(Market News Provided by FXstreet)