“The strong bulk of the committee is not showing a rate increase during this forecast period,” Powell told a virtual press conference on Wednesday, March 17, following the decision, adding that the time to talk about reducing the central bank’s asset purchases was “not yet.”
Federal Reserve officials continued to project near-zero interest rates at least through 2023 despite upgrading their US economic outlook and the mounting inflation worries in financial markets.
The decision, which came on a volatile day for investors with Treasury yields surging ahead of the announcement, masked a growing number of officials who saw liftoff before then, though Chair Jerome Powell stressed this was a minority view.
