WASHINGTON — For the first time in 22 years, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday pushed up interest rates by a full half-percentage point — a significant escalation of its efforts to get control of troublingly high inflation.
The Fed action will raise costs for new borrowers and increase interest payments that many households, already stressed by higher prices for food and gas, are making on existing home equity lines, credit cards and some other loans.
And that’s probably just the beginning. Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell said Wednesday that additional half-point rate hikes were expected to be on the table at the central bank’s next two policy meetings, in mid-June and late July.
