Federal Reserve holds interest rates while signalling hike in March

Confirms QE will end in March

The Federal Reserve signalled a rate hike will “soon be appropriate” last night while holding rates and confirmed its quantitative easing programme will end in March.

"I would say the committee is of a mind to raise the federal funds rate at the March meeting, assuming that conditions are appropriate for doing so," said Fed chair Jay Powell at a press conference after the decision. Last month, the central bank's policymakers released projections that implied three rate rises throughout 2022. The Fed said that the job market continues to recover, with the US jobless rate dropping to 3.9% last month. Powell added that there was "quite a bit of room to raise interest rates without threatening the labour market". However, inflation hit a four decade...