The Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) has decided to keep the target federal funds rate steady at 5.25 to 5.50 percent at its March meeting.
In a press release, the Federal Reserve stated, “The committee judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are moving into better balance.” The statement also noted, however, “The economic outlook is uncertain, and the committee remains highly attentive to inflation risks.”
In a rapid reaction comment, Oxford Economics wrote that the FOMC’s language to wait for inflation to “sustainably” be moving toward its 2 percent inflation target “reduces our subjective odds of a rate cut occurring in May, our current baseline forecast. It is likely that we change our Fed call, pushing the first rate hike from May to June, but the implications for our forecasts for GDP, unemployment and inflation would be minimal.”
The Fed kept its median projection that there will be a cumulative 75 basi