Recent Updates
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Economy in Brief
U.S. Housing Affordability Declines Further in June
The NAR Fixed Rate Mortgage Housing Affordability Index fell 3.6% in June...
EMU Output Makes Solid Gain in June
The European Monetary Union posted a 0.7% increase for industrial output in June...
U.S. Producer Prices Fall During July; Core Increase Weakens
The Producer Price Index for Final Demand fell 0.5% during July...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Continue on an Uptrend
Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ended August 6 rose 14,000 to 262,000...
RICS Survey Points to More U.K. Housing Sector Weakness
The survey of housing market conditions in the U.K. continues to show strength in prices versus weakness...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller June 13, 2018
At today's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the federal funds rate target was increased to a range between 1.75% and 2.00%. The financial markets had expected today's action as indicated in the Action Economics Forecast Survey. The minutes to today's meeting indicated that additional rate increases may be forthcoming.
The minutes focused on economic activity rising at a "solid" rate, with household spending having "picked up" and business investment continuing to "grow strongly."
The Fed noted that total inflation and inflation, less food & energy, have moved close to the 2% objective and that longer-term inflation expectations are little changed.
The Fed updated its economic projections. Estimates for real GDP growth are now 2.8% in 2018, 2.4% in 2019 and 2.0% in 2020. Only 2018 was altered from 2.7%. The core PCE price index is now expected to increase 2.0% this year, 2.1% in 2019 and 2.1% in 2020, changed from 1.9% in 2018 and 2.0% in 2019. The estimates of the civilian unemployment rate of 3.6% this year, 3.5% next year and 3.5% in 2020 were lowered from 3.8% for 2018, from 3.6% for 2019 and from 3.6% for 2020.
The press release for today's FOMC meeting can be found here.
Haver's SURVEYS database contains the economic projections from the FOMC.
Current | Last | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Federal Funds Rate Target | 1.75% - 2.00% | 1.50% - 1.75% | 1.00% | 0.40% | 0.13% | 0.09% |