The Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and acknowledge that turmoil in financial markets threatens its upbeat view of the US economy, leaving the chances of a March hike diminished but alive.
All 69 analysts in a Reuters poll see the central bank keeping its key overnight lending rate in a range of 0.25% to 0.50% when it issues its policy statement following a two-day meeting. The decision is due at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT).
A month-long plunge in US and world equities has raised concerns that an abrupt global slowdown could act as a drag on the US economy, with investors now betting on only one quarter-point rate hike in 2016 instead of the four signaled in Fed policymakers’ economic forecasts last month.
The Fed probably does not want to appear too worried by market and economic volatility that could prove temporary, and its rate-setting committee may soften concerns by pointing to solid US job growth.
Many economists expect the central bank to say in its policy statement it is closely following global economic and financial events, as it did following a bout of market turbulence last summer. That language did not appear in its December statement.
“This would constitute a moderate acknowledgement of risks that avoids shutting the door to a March hike,” Goldman Sachs economist David Mericle said.
