{"id":2234646,"date":"2024-05-01T14:25:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T18:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fed-holds-interest-rates-steady-as-2024-cut-gets-more-elusive\/"},"modified":"2024-05-01T14:26:33","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T18:26:33","slug":"fed-holds-interest-rates-steady-as-2024-cut-gets-more-elusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fed-holds-interest-rates-steady-as-2024-cut-gets-more-elusive\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Reserve maintains current interest rates as potential rate cut in 2024 becomes less likely"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffed-holds-interest-rates-steady-as-2024-cut-gets-more-elusive%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2234646&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Federal Reserve decided to maintain interest rates amid persistent inflation, \u200ddelaying a potential rate cut. The announcement followed a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee in Washington, D.C.,\u2064 confirming the rate target at 5.25% to 5.50%. The Fed&#8217;s acknowledgment of stagnant inflation signals a cautious approach, hinting at further delays \u200din rate adjustments. The Federal Reserve opted to \u2062keep interest rates\u200b steady, despite\u200c ongoing inflation \u2062concerns, postponing any rate cuts. Following\u2064 the\u200b Federal Open Market \u200bCommittee meeting in Washington, D.C., the\u2062 Fed reaffirmed the rate target\u2064 range of 5.25% to 5.50%. The acknowledgment of stagnant inflation reflects a prudent stance, suggesting potential delays in rate\u2062 modifications.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady Wednesday following several months of higher-than-expected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/inflation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>inflation<\/a>, with investors now not expecting a rate cut until months from now.<\/p>\n<p>After a two-day meeting of its\u00a0Federal\u00a0Open Market Committee in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/washington-dc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Washington, D.C.<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/federal-reserve\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Fed<\/a> announced that it will keep its rate target at 5.25% to 5.50%. The move was widely telegraphed.<\/p>\n<p>Because of inflation proving sticky in the first part of the year, the timing for when the Fed might first cut interest rates has been consistently pushed back in recent weeks.<\/p>\n<p>One major addition to the Fed\u2019s policy statement is an acknowledgment that inflation has not been making progress toward the Fed\u2019s goal as of late. The inclusion marks a more hawkish tone and could indicate that rate cuts are even further off.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn recent months, there has been a lack of further progress toward the Committee\u2019s 2 percent inflation objective,\u201d the statement reads. Officials added that the Fed would begin slowing the shrinking of its balance sheet beginning in June.<\/p>\n<p>The Fed has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/analysis-latin-america-after-record-tightening-could-lead-way-on-rate-cuts\/\" title=\"Latin America, having experienced significant tightening, may pave the way for rate cuts.\">held rates steady<\/a> since last raising interest rates in July. The current rate target is still the highest it has been since 2006, before the global financial crisis.<\/p>\n<p>The Fed\u2019s goal is for long-run inflation to run at about 2%, a level that it considers healthy for the country\u2019s economic growth. By raising interest rates, the Fed dampens demand and can lower inflation.<\/p>\n<p>Inflation as tracked by the CPI index <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/finance-and-economy\/2959087\/inflation-rose-3-5-march-fed-eyes-pivot\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rose to 3.5%<\/a> in March, more than expected, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidenflation-producer-prices-soar-at-record-8-6-pace\/\" title=\"Bidenflation: Producer Prices Soar at Record 8.6% Pace\">producer price index\u00a0rose 0<\/a>.6 percentage points to 2.1%. In the Fed\u2019s preferred gauge, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-numbers-are-in-bidens-inflation-is-not-going-away\/\" title=\"The Numbers Are In, Biden\u2019s Inflation Is Not Going Away\">personal consumption expenditures index<\/a>, inflation rose to 2.7%, also more than expected.<\/p>\n<p>Every other meeting, the Fed releases its own economic and interest rate projections. During its last meeting in March, Fed officials <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalreserve.gov\/monetarypolicy\/files\/fomcprojtabl20240320.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>predicted<\/a> that inflation, as gauged by the personal consumption expenditures index, would fall to 2.4% by the end of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Fed officials also penciled in about three rate cuts this year, although more participants are leaning into the possibility of just two cuts by the end of 2024. That calculus has likely changed since then given the hotter inflation readings.<\/p>\n<p>Thus far, the resilient labor market has given the Fed insulation to keep interest rates high.<\/p>\n<p>Higher interest rates are meant to filter through the economy and slow demand for goods and services, with a knock-on effect for labor. If the unemployment rate starts to rise, it would also be harmful to President Joe Biden in an election year.<\/p>\n<p>Still, there are some signs that the labor market is softening.<\/p>\n<p>New data released this week show job openings fell in March to just under 8.5 million, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/finance-and-economy\/2986570\/job-openings-plunge-lowest-level-three-years\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>lowest level of openings<\/a> since February 2021 and below expectations. That continues a two-year trend of moderating job openings.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Still, the overall jobs market was strong in March and added more than 300,000 jobs. The unemployment rate is at 3.8%, right around pre-pandemic levels.<\/p>\n<p>The employment report for April will be released on Friday. Economists are predicting a slight pullback in hiring, although still expect job growth to remain above 240,000.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged after a period of elevated inflation, postponing a potential rate decrease for the future. Following a Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington, D.C., the Fed confirmed maintaining the rate target between 5.25% and 5.50%. This decision was largely anticipated by market participants<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2683,"featured_media":2234647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/powell-1024x591.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2234646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/powell-1024x591.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2683"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2234646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2234647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2234646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2234646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2234646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}