Federal Reserve decides to hold interest rates steady

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The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday it will aim to keep interest rates to a target between 0.25 and 0.5 percent through March. The Fed turned heads in December by finally hiking rates off the 0-to-0.25 percent floor; the first time they had risen in nearly a decade.

Recent signals for the future of the economic recovery have been decidedly mixed, and the Fed admitted its long-term inflation target of two percent still appears to be a long way off. The statement continued the Fed's habit of assuring observers that the increase in interest rates will be slow and gradual. But it also suggested most of the Fed's decision-making members feel the forces holding down inflation, such as oil prices, are temporary.