The Federal Reserve headquarters
The Federal Reserve decided today, Dec. 13 to hold the interest rate steady for the third straight meeting and the fourth time since the start of the current tightening cycle in March 2022.
The US central bank left its benchmark rate at a 22-year high of 5.25% to 5.50%.
Fed officials expect to cut the interest rate three times at least in 2024 by a quarter point each, compared to market estimates of four-time cuts.
They expect the interest rate to be cut four times in 2025 and three times in 2026, bringing it down to a range of 2-2.25%.
They raised their GDP growth forecast by a half point to 2.6% in 2023 but kept their 2024 growth forecast unchanged at 1.4%.
Investors are anticipating Fed Chair Jerome Powell's press conference, which will be held shortly, hoping to obtain clear signals about the future of monetary policy and the possibility of easing it as soon as possible.
Some traders in the futures markets expect the central bank to start cutting the borrowing costs as early as March, although this week's inflation data and jobs report on Friday raised speculation that the cut will begin in May.
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