The Fed left rates unchanged at 0 to 0.25 percent, as nearly everybody expected, but is keeping its options open for September’s meeting—a meeting that could herald the first rate hike in nine years.
In a relatively unchanged statement from June, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) upgraded its assessment of the labour market. It described the job gains and declining unemployment as “solid” and noted that “a range of labour market indicators suggests that underutilization of labour resources has diminished since early this year.”
The FOMC also feels that the improvement needed in the labour market to raise rates is lesser than it was in June.
The counterpoint to the labour market is inflation. After saying that inflation is still running below the 2 percent target, what was stricken from the June statement was “energy prices appear to have stabilized.”
Fed Doesn’t Tip Hand on September Rate Hike
Labour market upgraded but inflation proving problematic
The Fed left rates unchanged at 0 to 0.25 percent, as nearly everybody expected, but is keeping its options open for September’s meeting.
Rahul Vaidyanath
Journalist
|Updated:
Underutilization of labour resources has diminished since early this year.
Rahul Vaidyanath
Journalist
Rahul Vaidyanath is a journalist with The Epoch Times in Ottawa. His areas of expertise include the economy, financial markets, China, and national defence and security. He has worked for the Bank of Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., and investment banks in Toronto, New York, and Los Angeles.
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