Fed Indicates Interest Rate Increase Is Coming

Washington, DC, March 19, 2015—The Federal Reserve opened the door to an interest-rate increase as soon as June, while also indicating it will go slow once it gets started, reports Bloomberg.

The new signals were contained in a policy statement that ended an era by dropping an assurance that the Fed will be “patient” in raising rates, and in a fresh set of estimates that lowered the median for the federal funds rate the end of 2015 to 0.625% compared with 1.125% in December.

Janet Yellen, chair of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System, is preparing for an exit from the most aggressive easing in the Fed’s 100-year history as the job market overcomes the damage wrought by the recession. At the same time, inflation and wage growth that remain too low are giving her reasons for caution.