Jerome Powell, the Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, spoke during a press conference after a two-day meeting in Washington, U.S., on July 31, 2024. The Federal Reserve plans to lower interest rates by another half point by the end of 2024 in two upcoming policy meetings. The central bank expects the benchmark fed funds rate to be at 4.4% by the end of the year and 3.4% through 2025. Powell mentioned during a press conference that the committee is not rushing the process. The Federal Reserve recently cut the federal funds rate to a range between 4.75% – 5%, marking its first rate cut since the early days of the pandemic. The post-meeting statement noted that the Committee is more certain about inflation moving towards 2 percent sustainably and sees the risks for achieving employment and inflation goals as balanced. Fed officials increased their projected unemployment rate for this year to 4.4% and decreased their inflation forecasts. This included lowering the inflation outlook to 2.3% and the core inflation projection to 2.6%.
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