Breaking: Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged

The Federal Reserve voted 9-1 this afternoon to keep the fed funds level unchanged at 2%. While the Fed named plenty of risk factors to our economy including the labor market, credit market, stock market, housing market and inflation, it also said that the economy is expanding on firming consumer spending. It was probably a more balanced statement than was expected. Most economists expected a stronger statement on inflation. Such wording would indicate that an increase in rates in the near term is slightly reduced.