Washington, D.C.—Fed decides on Wednesday to raise the key interest from 1.5% to 1.75% considering steady economic growth, record high stock market and low unemployment rate.
The labor market has continued to strengthen and that economic activity has been rising at a moderate rate. Job gains have been strong in recent months, and the unemployment rate has stayed low.
The economic outlook has strengthened in recent months. The Fed expects that economic activity will expand at a moderate pace in the medium term and labor market conditions will remain strong.
Inflation on a 12-month basis is expected to move up in coming months and to stabilize around 2 percent objective over the medium term. Both overall inflation and inflation for items other than food and energy have continued to run below 2 percent.
The Fed expects that economic conditions will evolve in a manner that will warrant further gradual increases in the federal funds rate; the federal funds rate is likely to remain, for some time, below levels that are expected to prevail in the longer run.
