The Federal Reserve's seven-month pause in changing interest rates could turn out to be a lot longer. Some analysts think the US central bank could stay on hold for all of this year.
That was the view after the Fed's latest comments on the economy relieved worries that the recent rebound in economic growth might be setting the stage for further interest rate increases.
The Fed on Wednesday left the federal funds rate unchanged at 5.25 percent, where it has been since the central bank's last rate hike in June last year.
While it had been widely expected that the central bank for the fifth straight meeting would leave rates alone, the surprising development came in the way the Fed choose to describe the economy.
It gave an upbeat reading on the prospects for economic growth and a benign view on the threat posed by inflation. Those views relieved investors who sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging by nearly 100 points on Wednesday to a new closing high.
While the views of "somewhat firmer economic growth" and stabilization in the swooning housing market were welcome, the really beneficial comments came in the area of inflation.
While continuing to maintain that inflation posed a bigger risk going forward than an economic slowdown, the central bank said that recent developments on inflation were encouraging in the closely watched area of core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices.
"Readings on core inflation have improved modestly in recent months and inflation pressures seem likely to moderate over time," the Fed statement concluded.
That brief comment was all investors needed to hear to stop fretting that the central bank was contemplating further interest rate increases.
"This was a message to the markets that you don't need to get overly worried that we could start hiking interest rates," said David Jones, chief economist at DMJ Advisors, a Denver-based consulting firm.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique