Washington, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 13th Dec, 2023) The US Federal Reserve will likely hold its key lending rate at a 22-year high on Wednesday and signal two rate cuts next year, in the first of a series of crucial central bank announcements this week.
The second day of rate talks began at 9:00 am (1400 GMT) on Wednesday, the Fed said in a statement.
With a pause deemed extremely likely, attention is on the language of the Fed’s decision, along with its accompanying economic forecasts, and the post-meeting press conference by Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
The Fed, which has a dual mandate to lower inflation to its long-term target of two percent while also tackling unemployment, has continued to keep the threat of another rate hike alive.
“It would be premature to conclude with confidence that we have achieved a sufficiently restrictive stance, or to speculate on when policy might ease,” Powell said recently.
