adminThe Federal Reserve said it would raise short-term interest rates by another quarter-percentage point, and central-bank officials signaled they expected to lift them again later this year and through 2019 to keep a strong economy on an even keel.
The policy makers voted unanimously last week to lift their benchmark federal-funds rate to a range between 2 percent and 2.25 percent.
The increase, which drew a rebuke from President Trump, is the third this year and the eighth since the Fed began to lift rates in late 2015 after keeping them pinned close to zero following the 2008 financial crisis. The Fed’s action marks the first time it has lifted its benchmark rate above 2 percent since 2008.
It also is the first time in a decade the fed-funds rate will rise above inflation, measured by the Fed’s preferred gauge, which excludes volatile energy and food categories. So-called core prices, which measures the price change of goods and services minus food and energy, rose 2 percent in July. Read more in the WSJ.
