Newsroom

The Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday said it is leaving the federal funds target rate unchanged at a range of 0.25 to 0.5 percent and is making no policy changes this month.

The FOMC released this policy statement at the close of its two-day meeting.

"The tone of the statement was largely positive," said NAFCU Chief Economist and Director of Research Curt Long. "The assessments of the economy in general and the labor market in particular were more upbeat, and the committee deemed that risks had diminished. Nevertheless, there was no indication that the committee anticipates that inflation will pick up in the near term, which leaves them enough slack to maintain a cautious approach to normalizing rates."

Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said this month that he wouldn't rule out as many as two rate hikes in 2016. However, Long has said any economic trouble between now and September would solidify the likelihood of no rate increases before December.

The committee will meet for another two-day policy-setting session Sept. 20-21.

The FOMC raised the federal funds target rate to a range of 0.25 to 0.5 percent in December 2015.