Fed Keeps Rates Intact, Maintains $80B Monthly Pace Of Bond Buying

In a move that was widely expected, the U.S. Federal Reserve maintained its current fed funds target range of zero to 0.25% on Wednesday following a much stronger-than-anticipated May jobs report.

“The Committee expects to maintain this target range until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals,” the Fed said in a statement.

Investors aren’t expecting the Fed to take much action on the interest rate front for quite a while.

All 10 Fed members voted unanimously to maintain rates.

The Federal Reserve also released new “dot plot” economic forecasts suggesting no change to interest rates through at least 2022.

The committee is projecting a 6.5% decline in U.S. GDP in 2020 but a return to 5% growth in 2021 and 3.5% growth in 2022.

Markets React

The Federal Reserve issued two emergency interest rate cuts totaling 1.5% in March in response to the COVID-19 outbreak and has provided access to more than $2.3 trillion in loans to support the economy.

On Wednesday, the Fed said it plans to continue buying $80 billion in Treasury bonds and $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities per month.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY ended Wednesday's session down 0.56%. 

The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds declined slightly on Wednesday to 0.724%, down 0.01% on the day.

Related Links:

What Negative Interest Rates Would Mean For Banks, Stocks And The Average American

Powell Says US Economic Recovery 'May Take Some Time To Gather Momentum'

Public domain photo via Wikimedia.