The Federal Reserve provided limited forward guidance in today's statement. It said that it "anticipates that it will be appropriate to raise the target range for the Fed funds rate when it has seem some further improvement in the labor market..." This is the key. There will be two more employment reports that will be released before the September FOMC meeting. Given that weekly initial jobless claims have fallen to new lows, momentum in the labor market remains intact. The Fed acknowledged that the underutilization of labor has diminished. Stable prices is the other Fed mandate. The FOMC statement suggests that ... (full story)