Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged

The Federal Reserve announced that it will leave interest rates ultra low for now, according to a statement on November 4, after two days of Federal Open Market Committee meetings. Citing “subdued” inflation expectations and saying that “economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time,” the Fed said that conditions “warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.”

Fed funds rates are targeted to stay at 0% to .25%, as they have been for the past several months. In addition, to boost money available for mortgage loans, the Fed is continuing to buy, “a total of $1.25 trillion,” of agency mortgage-backed securities, and agency debt of $175 billion, which is slightly less than the previously-announced program to buy up to $200 billion in agency debt. The program to buy agency debt is slightly lower due to “limited availability of agency debt.”