The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the United States Federal Reserve (Fed) has decided to maintain interest rates in the target range of between 5.25% and 5.5%, at highest levels since January 2001, as reported by the central bank in a statement this Wednesday.
In this way, the institution has once again maintained its monetary policy unchanged for the fourth consecutive meeting after the last 25 basis point increase in the price of money undertaken last July and the pause that began in September.
“The Committee will continue to carefully evaluate the incoming data, the changing environment and the balance of risks [between employment and inflation],” said the central bank, which has described the macroeconomic picture as “uncertain.”
Likewise, the decision-making body has indicated that it “does not expect it to be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater assurance that inflation is steadily returning to 2%.”
However, the omission in the document released by the Fed regarding past quotes is striking, such as the deletion of the phrase that referred to the “degree of potential tightening”, which indicates that the Committee has ruled out the possibility of new increases. , although the line that also ensures that inflation remains “high” continues to appear.
The economy of the world’s leading power experienced annualized growth of 4.9% of its GDP in the third quarter of 2023 compared to 2.1% in the previous section, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) .
As for the US labor market, it created 199,000 non-agricultural jobs during the month of November, which allowed unemployment to be reduced by two tenths, to 3.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor.
Thus, the unemployment rate in the US once again approached the minimum recorded in January and April, when it stood at 3.4%, which was its lowest rate since 1969.
For its part, the personal consumption expenditure price index, the variable preferred by the Fed to monitor inflation, stood at 2.6% year-on-year in December, the same figure as the previous month. The monthly rate recorded a rebound to 0.2% from the previous negative reading of 0.1%. The underlying variable closed at 2.9%, three tenths less.
