The Federal Open Market Committee announced today that it would maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 5.25-5.5%.
In its statement, the FOMC said that “the Committee does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably towards 2 percent.”
Regarding the FOMC cutting rates, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated, “we believe that our policy rate is likely at its peak for this tightening cycle and that, if the economy evolves broadly as expected, it will likely be appropriate to begin dialing back policy restraint at some point this year.” Powell also added that “the median participant projects that the appropriate level of the federal funds rate will be 4.6 percent at the end of this year, 3.9 percent at the end of 2025, and 3.1 percent at the end of 2026—still above the median longer-term funds rate.”
Read the Federal Reserve statement.