Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday all but confirmed that the central bank will raise interest rates in its next policy-setting meeting in mid-March, as the central bank continues to battle rising prices.
“I would say that the committee is of a mind to raise the federal funds rate at the March meeting, assuming conditions are appropriate for doing so,” Powell said in a press conference after the central bank opted to hold the short-term federal funds rate at near zero.
But the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee unanimously agreed that “it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate,” and Powell’s commentary suggests the first increase will happen on March 16.
Questions remain over how aggressive the Fed will want to move in March. Following Powell’s press conference Wednesday, betting markets on the path of future Fed policy showed an 86% chance of a 25 basis point hike in that meeting. A notable 14% are predicting a 50 basis point hike. A double rate hike in one meeting hasn’t happened since May 2000.
Powell declined to say if a 50 basis point hike was on the table, and similarly deflected a question from Yahoo Finance on whether or not the path of rate increases would be gradual.
