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Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller December 16, 2020
The Federal Reserve left the target for the Fed funds rate in a range of 0.00% to 0.25% at today's meeting of the FOMC. The Fed indicated that, "The COVID-19 pandemic is causing tremendous human and economic hardship across the United States and around the world."
The Fed reiterated its comment from the last meeting that, "The path of the economy will depend significantly on the course of the virus. The ongoing public health crisis will continue to weigh on economic activity, employment, and inflation in the near term, and poses considerable risks to the economic outlook over the medium term."
The Fed continued to indicate that it will "increase its holdings of Treasury securities by at least $80 billion per month and of agency mortgage-backed securities by at least $40 billion per month until substantial further progress has been made toward the Committee's maximum employment and price stability goals."
The statement issued following today's meeting can be found here.
Today's action was supported by all Committee members.
Current | Last | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Federal Funds Rate Target | 0.0% - 0.25% | 0.0% - 0.25% | 0.38% | 2.17% | 1.82% | 1.00% |
At today's meeting, the Fed updated its economic projections.
% |
2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Real GDP (Q4/Q4) | -2.4 (previously -3.7) | 4.2 (previously 4.0) | 3.2 (previously 3.0) | 2.4 (previously 2.5) |
PCE Inflation (Q4/Q4) | 1.2 | 1.8 (previously 1.7) | 1.9 (previously 1.8) | 2.0 |
Core PCE Inflation (Q4/Q4) | 1.4 (previously 1.5) | 1.8 (previously 1.7) | 1.9 (previously 1.8) | 2.0 |
Unemployment Rate | 6.7 (previously 7.6) | 5.0 (previously 5.5) | 4.2 (previously 4.6) | 3.7 (previously 4.0) |