The daily business briefing: May 3, 2018

The Federal Reserve leaves interest rates unchanged, Cambridge Analytica shuts down after Facebook privacy scandal, and more

Cambridge Analytica shuts down after Facebook privacy scandal.
(Image credit: Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images)

1. Fed leaves benchmark interest rate unchanged

The Federal Reserve held interest rates unchanged at the close of a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, as expected. The central bank's leaders signaled that their next rate hike would come in June, expressing confidence that inflation would remain where policy makers want it after rising recently to the Fed's 2 percent target. The decision to hold interest rates steady between 1.5 percent and 1.75 percent was unanimous. U.S. stocks jumped immediately after the announcement, then fell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 declined by 0.7 percent and the Nasdaq Composite fell by 0.4 percent. "The market continues to struggle with conflicting forces, including awesome earnings, higher rates, and fears of a trade war," said Crit Thomas, global market strategist at Touchstone Investments.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.