What to Watch For at the Fed’s Meeting (2024)

Follow live updates as Federal Reserve officials announce their latest decision on interest rates.

Federal Reserve officials will announce their June policy decision on Wednesday, and they are widely expected to hold steady after 10 straight interest rate increases — taking a breather to see how the economy is shaping up 15 months into their fight against rapid inflation.

Prices have been increasing faster than the Fed would like for more than two years, but a report on Tuesday confirmed that the pace of overall inflation continues to cool. That doesn’t mean the Fed can declare victory: Once volatile food and fuel prices were stripped out, the data showed inflation remained stubbornly rapid.

Investors are betting that Fed officials will respond to the mixed picture by skipping an increase this month, even as they signal that they might lift rates in July.

Still, the outlook is very uncertain, and investors will be watching Wednesday’s Fed meeting closely for any hint at what could come next. Central bankers will release their rate decision and fresh economic forecasts at 2 p.m., followed by a news conference with Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, at 2:30 p.m. Here’s what to know about the decision.

Interest rates are at their highest since 2007.

Fed officials have raised interest rates sharply since March 2022, pushing them to just above 5 percent in the fastest series of rate increases since the 1980s.

The speed of adjustment is relevant because it takes months or even years for the effects of interest rate changes to fully trickle through the economy.