Us interest rates

The Federal Reserve is expected on Wednesday to lift interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point for a third straight time and signal how much ...

"The present danger, however, is not so much that current and planned moves will fail eventually to quell inflation. It is that they collectively go too far and drive the world economy into an unnecessarily harsh contraction." In July, Powell's comment that the Fed might move to smaller incremental rate increases was read as indicating an imminent policy pivot. central bank to eventually need to raise its policy rate to around 5.00%, a level approaching the peak of 5.25% seen from mid-2006 to 2007 when Fed policymakers were concerned about a bubble in the U.S. Powell is scheduled to hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m. The policy decision, due to be announced at 2 p.m.

The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates by another 0.75 percentage points today, as it tries to control runaway prices.

People have grown more confident of that over the summer as the cost of gasoline — with its highly visible price tag — has fallen. "We will keep at it until the job is done," Powell told an audience at the CATO Institute this month. "The Fed has been delivering a 'tough love' message that interest rates will be higher, and for longer, than expected." While the [price of gasoline has dropped sharply](https://www.npr.org/2022/08/06/1115440553/gas-prices-oil-inflation-cost-of-living) from its record high in June, and used cars and airline tickets have gotten somewhat cheaper, other costs continue to climb, including essentials such as rent, groceries and electricity. The central bank has already raised its benchmark rate four times this year — from near zero to about 2.375%. "If unemployment were to stay under, say 5%, I think we could really be really aggressive on inflation," Waller said. But so far, its actions have done little to curb the rapid run-up in prices. "The longer inflation remains well above target, the greater the risk that the public does begin to see higher inflation as the norm, and that has the capacity to really raise the cost of getting inflation down." "If we don't get inflation down, we're in trouble," Fed governor Christopher Waller said this month. Powell argues that's "The Fed will continue to hike rates until it actually restrains the economy and intends to keep rates at those restrictive levels until inflation is unmistakably on its way to 2%," McBride said. What's more, price hikes have spread to goods and services that are not directly affected by the pandemic or the war in Ukraine, suggesting that inflation has gained momentum that may not be quickly reversed.

The central bank is expected to raise rates by three-quarters of a percentage point for the third consecutive time.

[misjudging inflation](https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/05/31/inflation-economy-timeline/?itid=lk_inline_manual_15) for much of last year, the Fed has been in a race to push past the “neutral” zone of roughly 2.5 percent, where rates don’t slow or juice the economy, and into “restrictive territory” that dampens consumer demand and gets inflation down. Fed officials had hoped that the latest consumer price index report would show a meaningful drop in inflation, thanks in part to falling gas prices. Policymakers are also set to release a new set of economic projections. He is likely to get questions on inflation, the risks of a recession, future rate hikes — and what the toll of those moves will be. [job market](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/09/02/august-jobs-report/?itid=lk_inline_manual_7) and consumer spending — two crucial economic engines — have stayed resilient through the Fed’s sharp rate hikes, and Americans may even be [feeling better](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/09/10/economy-inflation-gas-prices/?itid=lk_inline_manual_7) about inflation. “If it’s [one percentage point], I think that would be interpreted as a statement,” said Justin Wolfers, professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan.