Federal Reserve keeps rates level, signals a pause in 2020

After its December meeting on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve said it would keep interest rates at the current level, marking an end to the series of rate cuts that aided economy and markets amid recession fears brought by trade disputes along with other uncertainties.

Fed’s policymakers unanimously voted to keep rates steady and blinking between 1.5% and 1.75%. The decision was labeled “appropriate” by the policymakers, saying that it would help in sustaining economic expansion.

The decision, however, was anticipated by the market participants as the Fed had already signaled a long pause as it previously stated it would wait for the previous cuts to take effect in the markets.

The majority of the participants on the Federal Open Market Committee’s policy-setting jury now anticipate a cessation of rate cuts in 2020, as predicted by the central bank. Only four of the seventeen members predicted that rates may be changed a little later.