Federal Reserve keeps federal funds rate unchanged
By Neil Irwin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 29, 2010
www.washingtonpost.com
Federal Reserve leaders left their target interest rate near zero on Tuesday and restated their intention to keep rates very low for an "extended period" Wednesday, even as they modestly upgraded their assessment of the economy.
"Economic activity has continued to strengthen," the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement after a two-day policymaking meeting, and "the labor market is beginning to improve." That represents a slight improvement from the assessment issued after the leaders' last policy meeting, in mid-March, when they said only that the job market was "stabilizing."
Fed leaders left the federal funds rate in a range of zero percent to 0.25 percent, where it has been since December 2008, and said conditions are likely to justify leaving it at "exceptionally low" levels for "an extended period."
