WASHINGTON (AP) – Again and again in recent months, the Federal Reserve has signaled that it’s edging closer to resuming the interest-rate hikes it began in December.
It just doesn’t seem to be there quite yet.
When the Fed ends its latest policy meeting Wednesday, it’s expected to leave the short-term rate it controls at the low level where it’s been for 10 months. In the view of most economists, the Fed wants more time to assess the health of the U.S. economy, the risks from overseas and the prospect that low inflation will soon reach the central bank’s 2 percent target rate.
Many think the next rate increase will come in December.
Until recently, many Fed watchers had thought a rate hike was likely this week. They believed that the Fed, starting with a late-August speech by Chair Janet Yellen in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, was preparing investors for an imminent rate increase. In that speech, Yellen suggested that given the job market’s solid gains and the Fed’s outlook for the economy and inflation, “the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months.”