The Federal Reserve did not move on rates at the conclusion of its policysetting meeting June 19, but committed itself to acting “as appropriate to sustain the expansion.”
The Fed elected to keep the benchmark interest rate within its target range of 2.25% to 2.5%, but new economic projections show more Fed officials seeing the case for a rate cut — or two — by the end of 2020.
The Federal Open Market Committee made a number of changes to its policy statement, removing the word “patient” in favor of language promising to “closely monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook.” Some market participants had viewed the word “patient” as having a bias toward rate hikes, since the central bank had previously messaged that it was on pause, and not full stop, on efforts to normalize interest rates.
The Fed said it still sees a “sustained expansion of economic activity, strong labor market conditions, and inflation near” the committee’s 2% target, but added that “uncertainties about this outlook have increased.”
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell also saw his first dissent since becoming head of the central bank; St. Louis Fed President James Bullard voted against the decision to hold rates steady, instead preferring a 25-basis point cut in today’s decision.
More members see rate cuts by 2020
The Fed also released a fresh print of economic projections, which included new “dot plots” that map out policysetting members’ preferred rate paths through the next three years.
The median dot reflected no rate changes through the rest of 2019, and one 25-basis point rate cut in 2020. The previous dot plots in March (before trade tensions escalated and economic data softened) also had the median dot calling for no rate changes by the end of 2019, but projected a rate hike in 2020.
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