Federal Reserve raises interest rates by one quarter-point


The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the second time in three months Wednesday, bumping the benchmark rate by one quarter-point. The Fed additionally signaled that it would raise rates one more time in 2017 and three times in 2018, each time likely by a quarter-point.
Wednesday's rate hike shows Fed officials "forged ahead with an interest-rate increase and additional plans to tighten monetary policy despite growing concerns over weak inflation," Bloomberg noted. The Fed's inflation target is 2 percent; the core consumer price inflation mark as of Wednesday was 1.7 percent.
In its statement Wednesday, the U.S. central bank took an optimistic stance on the American economy, saying the job market has "continued to strengthen" and general economic activity has "been rising moderately so far this year," The Wall Street Journal observed. The Fed also revised its projection of GDP growth in 2017 up to 2.2 percent from 2.1 percent in March.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

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.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kimberly Alters is the news editor at TheWeek.com. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
-
August 3 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include a human data center, Donald Trump's enterprising spirit, and more
-
5 darkly funny cartoons about Israel blocking aid to Gaza
Cartoons Artists take on forcing famine, avoiding aid, and more
-
The easy elegance of Cap Ferret
The Week Recommends 'Elemental and otherworldly' destination is loved for its natural beauty
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliable
speed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutiny
Speed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress code
speed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirement
speed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement