Fed expected to hold interest rates steady as inflation tops midterm voters’ concerns

The Federal Reserve is meeting in Washington this week, where it will consider whether to raise interest rates in an effort to tamp down on inflation.

The meetings come at a moment when rising prices are shaping large parts of the U.S. economy and inflation is set to play a key role in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Yet members of the bank’s interest-rate setting committee are widely expected to keep benchmark rates steady this month.

There are several reasons why the Fed is unlikely to move on rates Wednesday. But most of them come down to a sense among top officials that the central bank shouldn’t rush into interest rate decisions — and that it definitely shouldn’t do so less than a week out from Election Day.

“Inflation remains above our goal,” Michelle Bowman, the Fed’s vice chair for supervision, said Oct. 14. “We have some time to wait and see how financial conditions evolve before we take more action.”

The Fed last raised rates by a quarter of a percentage point in September, after a string of monthly inflation readings well above its target of 2% and no signs that prices were coming down anytime soon.

“The plain fact is…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business