US Fed Meeting: Cbank holds rates steady as expected

World
Europe

01:59

Turning to the United States now. The Federal Reserve decided to leave interest rates unchanged at its two-day meeting that ended Wednesday. But Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said that the decision doesn't necessarily reflect concern over a potential recession.

After a two-day meeting in Washington, the Fed says it's leaving rates at their current range of 2.25 to 2.5%. Last December, the Federal Reserve estimated that it would raise rates twice in 2019 - now, they don't see any more this year. But the Fed Chairman says he doesn't see any early signs of a looming financial crisis.

JEROME POWELL FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN "I would say overall we don't see financial stability vulnerabilities as high, there are some aspects of the financial markets that we're carefully marketing, those are in the nature of things that might be amplifiers to a downturn, as opposed to a financial stability concern, which might lead to a financial crisis, which we don't see."

Early trading on Wall Street was flat ahead of the Fed's announcement. But U.S. President Donald Trump's comments about U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports could have been weighing on markets as much as speculation about interest rates.

DONALD TRUMP US PRESIDENT "No we're not talking about removing them, we're talking about leaving them and for a substantial period of time. Because we have to make sure that if we do the deal with China that China lives by the deal."

With the U.S.-China trade war on pause as negotiations continue next week, the Fed also says it's less optimistic than it was about growth in the U.S. economy. Just three months ago, the Fed predicted that the U.S. economy would grow by 2.3 percent.

GILES GIBSON WASHINGTON DC "Now, after a two-day meeting here in Washington, the U.S. central bank has cut that estimate down to 2.1 percent, adding to the gloom of disappointing jobs figures at the start of the month. Giles Gibson, CGTN, Washington."