Fed to Stand Pat

The moribund inflation seen in the world’s largest economy over the last year is a “mystery”, a “surprise” and a “concern” all at once, in the words of US central bank chief Janet Yellen, AFP reported. And the dilemma–why price pressures have not picked up despite nearly a decade’s worth of falling unemployment and growth–will be squarely at the fore when Federal Reserve policymakers gather Tuesday for a two-day meeting in Washington. If futures markets are to be believed, the Fed will take no action on benchmark interest rates at the meeting, leaving the target range unchanged at between 1% and 1.25%.