Fed Hikes Rates Again, Says Inflation Fight Hardly Over

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sought Wednesday (Nov. 2) to strike a delicate balance at a moment when high inflation is bedeviling the nation’s economy and commanding a central role in the midterm elections, according to an Associated Press report.

Powell suggested that the Fed may decide in coming months to slow its aggressive interest rate increases. Yet he also made clear that the Fed isn’t even close to declaring victory in its fight to curb an inflation rate that is near four-decade highs and has shown few signs of ebbing.

When the Fed ended its latest policy meeting Wednesday, it announced that it was pumping up its benchmark rate by a substantial three-quarters of a point for a fourth straight time. Its key rate now stands in a range of 3.75% to 4%, the highest in 15 years.

It was the central bank’s sixth rate hike this year — a streak that has made mortgages and other consumer and business loans increasingly expensive and heightened the risk of a recession.

Read the full Associated Press report.

Source: https://rvbusiness.com/fed-hikes-rates-again-says-inflation-fight-hardly-over/