US Federal Reserve raises interest rates and says more is coming, while brushing off Donald Trump’s criticism
The move reflected an upbeat assessment of the economy that was identical to the central bank’s last policy statement eight weeks ago, despite concerns over Trump’s escalating trade war
US Federal Reserve officials raised interest rates for a third time this year and reaffirmed their outlook for further gradual hikes well into 2019, risking fresh criticism from US President Donald Trump.
The move reflected an upbeat assessment of the economy that was identical to the central bank’s last policy statement eight weeks ago, despite concerns over Trump’s escalating trade war.
The quarter-point increase boosted the benchmark federal funds rate to a target range of 2 per cent to 2.25 per cent.
Growth and job gains have been “strong” and inflation remains near the central bank’s 2 per cent target, the Federal Open Market Committee said in its statement Wednesday following a two-day meeting in Washington.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues are trying to pull off a feat the central bank has accomplished only once in its 104-year history: engineer a soft landing of the economy as growth slows by raising rates just enough to prevent overheating, but not so much that they trigger a recession.
Trump is not making the Fed’s tricky task any easier.