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The Federal Reserve decided to leave interest rates unchanged following Wednesday's (September 20) Open Market Committee meeting. The Fed signaled that it will likely hike interest rates later this year as it tries to deal with continued inflation.
The Fed's updated projections indicated that the agency will likely raise interest rates twice in 2024, which is fewer than many analysts were predicting.
The current rate is between 5.25%-5.5%.
"We're in a position to proceed carefully in determining the extent of additional policy firming," Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said.
"We want to see convincing evidence really that we have reached the appropriate level, and we're seeing progress, and we welcome that. But, you know, we need to see more progress before we'll be willing to reach that conclusion," he added.
Stocks closed the day in the red, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 78 points, the Nasdaq down 209 points, and the S&P 500 down 41 points.