The Federal Reserve is committed to using its full range of tools to support the U.S. economy in this challenging time, thereby promoting its maximum employment and price stability goals. The COVID-19 pandemic is causing tremendous human and economic hardship across the United States and around the world. Following a moderation in the pace of the recovery, indicators of economic activity and employment have turned up recently, although the sectors most adversely affected by the pandemic remain weak. Inflation continues to run below 2 percent. Overall financial conditions remain accommodative, in part reflecting ... (full story)

Despite a substantial upgrade to its economic outlook, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday held its key interest rate near zero, continued to forecast no rate hikes through 2023 and vowed to maintain its bond buying stimulus. The central bank is struggling to acknowledge forecasts that have suddenly turned more bullish while promising to stay the course with rock-bottom rates and massive bond purchases as long as the economy remains hobbled by the COVID-19-induced downturn. Some economists expected the Fed policymakers to stick to their December estimate of no rate increases through 2023 while others reckoned the ... (full story)

This is a comparison of Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee statement with the one issued after the Fed’s previous policy-making meeting on Jan. 27. Text removed from the January statement is in red with a horizontal line through the middle. Text appearing for the first time in the new statement is in red and underlined. Black text appears in both statements. The Federal Reserve is committed to using its full range of tools to support the U.S. economy in this challenging time, thereby promoting its maximum employment and price stability goals. The COVID-19 pandemic is causing tremendous human and economic ... (full story)