After a brief pause in their aggressive inflation-fighting campaign, Federal Reserve officials raised interest rates for the 11th time in nearly 17 months on Wednesday. The 25 basis point hike pushed the Federal funds rate to a 22-year high between 5.25% and 5.5%.
The move was widely anticipated on Wall Street, as was the central bank’s follow-up policy statement that left the door open to another rate increase this year. But what wasn’t as expected was the new, more optimistic, forecast from the Fed’s staff.
