By Tom Burnett CFA
On September 20, 2023, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (“FOMC”) announced that it will leave current Fed Funds rates at the range of 5.25%-50%. The announcement was accompanied by a set of quarterly projections which suggest that further rate hikes will be necessary to bring inflation down to the goal of 2% annually. The FOMC statement reiterated that ‘inflation remains elevated’.
The Fed will also continue to shrink its balance sheet by selling its holdings of Treasury and mortgage backed securities, using the same monthly transaction program as previously described.
Today’s decision was unanimously endorsed by al the FOMC members.
The next FOMC meeting announcement is scheduled for November 1, 2023.
Tom Burnett CFA is Director of Research