US Fed Meeting Live Updates: Wall Street slips ahead of Powell-led FOMC verdict, Dow Jones sheds 100 points
US Fed Meeting Live Updates: The US Federal Reserve will announce its sixth interest rate decision for 2024 on September 18 after a two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The US central bank is widely expected to reduce its borrowing costs by 25 basis points (bps) or 50 bps from the current 5.25 per cent – 5.50 per cent for the first time in four years.
With inflation barely above their target level, US Fed officials have been shifting their focus toward supporting a weakening job market and achieving a rare “soft landing,” which curbs inflation without causing a sharp recession.
A half-point rate cut would signal that the US Fed is as determined to sustain healthy economic growth as it is to conquer high inflation. The move is expected to be only the first in a series of Fed rate cuts that will extend into 2025.
Fed chair Jerome Powell-led rate-setting panel ended its fifth policy-setting meeting for 2024 on July 31 and unanimously voted to keep the policy rate at the 23-year high in the range of 5.25 per cent—5.50 per cent. The US central bank has maintained borrowing rates steady for 12 straight months to bring down inflation in the world’s largest economy.
After raising the policy rate by 5.25 percentage points since March 2022 in one of the swiftest Fed reactions to combat the worst outbreak of inflation in 40 years, the central bank has held the rate on hold since July 2023 to anchor in high inflation and consistently bring it down toward the two per cent target range.
Stay tuned to our US Fed Meeting Live blog for the latest updates on FOMC meeting outcome.