Federal Reserve maintains current interest rates in monthly meeting

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in December indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and that economic activity has been rising at a solid rate. On a 12-month basis, both overall inflation and inflation for items other than food and energy have continued to run below 2 percent. In view of realized and expected labor market conditions and inflation, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 percent.

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Federal Reserve opts to keep interest rates unchanged in latest meeting

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen even as growth in economic activity slowed. In view of realized and expected labor market conditions and inflation, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3/4 to 1 percent.

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Federal Reserve votes to keep interest rates at current levels

The central bank decided not to raise interest rates Wednesday at the end of its two-day meeting. The decision was in line with expectations after a brutal May jobs report.

"The pace of improvement in the labor market has slowed," the Fed said in a statement. "Although the unemployment rate has declined, job gains have diminished."

The Fed cut its forecast for U.S. economic growth in 2016 to 2%, down from 2.2% earlier. This is the second time this year that the Fed is reducing its expectations for U.S. economic growth. The Fed also slightly decreased its projection for economic growth in 2017.

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BuilderBytes' MetroIntelligence Economic Update for 4/11/14

Please click here to see the edition of BuilderBytes for 4/11/14 on the Web.

In this issue of the MetroIntelligence Economic Update, I covered the following indicators:

• Initial unemployment claims dip to 300,000, the lowest level since May 2007
• Federal Reserve March meeting notes shows policy split among its members
• Pace of wholesale inventory increase slowed in February but in line with expectations

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Federal Reserve projects slower-growing economy

From the latest statement courtesy of the Federal Reserve:

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in September indicates that economic growth strengthened somewhat in the third quarter, reflecting in part a reversal of the temporary factors that had weighed on growth earlier in the year.

Nonetheless, recent indicators point to continuing weakness in overall labor market conditions, and the unemployment rate remains elevated. Household spending has increased at a somewhat faster pace in recent months.

Business investment in equipment and software has continued to expand, but investment in nonresidential structures is still weak, and the housing sector remains depressed. Inflation appears to have moderated since earlier in the year as prices of energy and some commodities have declined from their peaks. Longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable...

Click here for full statement.