WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady Wednesday and signaled it will lift them more slowly than previously indicated because of a weak global environment and volatile stock market.
The Fed said in a statement said its rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee decided to leave the central bank’s benchmark interest rate in a range of 0.25%-0.5%. The decision was widely expected.
The big change was in the Fed’s so-called “dot plot,” where officials penciled in only two quarter-point hikes this year, down from four in December.
“We continue to see risks,” Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen said in a press conference after top officials met. But she also pointed out that “the U.S. economy has been very resilient in recent months.”
Just a few months ago, the Fed appeared ready to embark on a series of interest-rate increases after determining the economy was strong enough to handle it. Yet big losses in the stock market early in the year, slowing U.S. growth and fresh worries the global economy spurred the Fed to back off.
Financial markets don’t expect a rate hike before June.
More recently the U.S. economy seems to have stabilized, easing some of the Fed’s concerns. The central bank on Wednesday pointed to improved consumer spending, a stronger housing market and “strong job gains.”
Yet the Fed acknowledged that exports and business investment remain soft. Inflation is expected to remain on the low side this year, even though there are some signs that price pressures are building.
The Fed predicted its preferred PCE inflation gauge will end 2016 at 1.2%, down from a prior forecast of 1.6%. The bank wants to see inflation rise to the 2% level it considers a sign of a healthier economy.
”What the Fed is saying is that they are willing to tolerate some more inflation,” said John Canally, an economist and investment strategist at LPL Financial.
The FOMC vote was 9-1. Kansas City Fed President Esther George dissented in favor of a quarter-point rate increase.
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