Federal Reserve Rate: No Changes to Fed Rate, Stays Close to Zero
The Fed is not raising its federal funds interest rate due to worries around the global financial markets, CNBC reports.
This month was supposed to be when the U.S. central bank raised its rates from near zero, but decided to keep it where it is currently at for at least another month.
"The Fed follows the bond market. The bond market loudly advised against a hike and the Fed, true to form, listened," Doubleline's Jeffrey Gundlach said.
The Fed's Open Market Committee (FOMC) held a two-day meeting in Washington to discuss the condition of the U.S. economy and make a decision on the Fed rate. Fed Chairman Janet Yellen said after the announcement the rate would be raised when the economy is reevaluated and is confirmed to be in good shape, NBC News reported.
"I think the decision means the Fed is, as they said, concerned about events outside the U.S., dependent on worldwide growth," said Mike Baele, senior portfolio manager at the Private Client Reserve at U.S. Bank.
"[It's] yet another Feed meeting and another punt. Investors will have to deal with the uncertainty of when a rate hike is going to occur."
The Fed rate has been set at the zero to 0.25 range since December of 2008. This rate was cut to this level to help the U.S. economy get out of a steep recession caused by the housing crisis.
The FOMC adjusts the federal funds rate, which is the rate that banks charge other banks for overnight loans, to influence the supply of money, control inflation and help stabilize the economy. Yellen says she thinks the inflation rate will remain steady in the future and very low this year.
If the rate was increased, customers would have seen higher payments on certain banking products and services like loans.
Stocks reacted to the rate remaining unchanged by at first falling and then slightly recovering. In late afternoon trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 60 points.
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