In a bold move aimed at taming inflation, the Federal Reserve has once again raised interest rates with the Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell keeping the door open for further hikes.
The unanimous decision marked the 11th rate increase since March 2022 and pushed the target range for the Fed’s benchmark federal funds rate to 5.25% to 5.5%, the highest level in over two decades.
The recent data has signaled a resilient US economy, providing the impetus for the Federal Reserve to resume its tightening campaign after a brief pause in June. Policymakers believe these rate hikes are crucial in curbing price pressures that have been plaguing the economy since 2022 when inflation reached a 40-year high.
Chairman Powell, while acknowledging that the rate hikes have shown promising results in curbing inflation, maintained that there is still a long way to go before they achieve their target of 2% inflation.
Powell refused to be pinned down on the exact timing of the next rate hike, highlighting the need to assess incoming data, including various economic reports, before making any further decisions.
The decision was met with a relatively muted response from the markets, with stocks advancing while Treasury yields and the dollar fell. Swaps traders, however, are still pricing in slightly over a 50% chance of another rate increase before the year’s end, indicating a cautious approach in the face of economic uncertainties.
Federal Reserve officials have been carefully navigating the current economic landscape, using a meeting-by-meeting basis to determine the appropriate course of action. Despite the aggressive tightening campaign initiated since early last year, they paused rate hikes last month to assess their impact, signaling a likelihood of two more increases by the end of the year.
The latest decision to hike rates was widely expected, considering the economy’s resilience in the face of previous rate increases. However, there was some uncertainty among investors due to recent data showing a sharp receding of consumer price inflation last month.
