Following the conclusion of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on June 18 and 19, the Fed announced that it had kept interest rates unchanged. This is the second time it has done so since the FOMC meeting in January. Fed chairman Jerome Powell recalled that the US central bank’s policy stance had been “broadly appropriate” since the beginning of 2019, and that it had been “patient” in making any changes.
SINGAPORE (July 1): In December 2015, the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in a long while. This ended the unprecedented era of ultra-accommodative monetary policies deemed necessary to resuscitate economies after the 2008/09 global financial crisis (GFC).
With nine hikes over the last four years, the fed fund rate has increased from between 0.0% and 0.25%, to between 2.25% and 2.5% currently. The US central bank was expected to further normalise interest rates to above 3%, but it has now paused the hike cycle and is poised to loosen monetary policy — again.
