Fed shifts to 0.25pc rate rise, ‘couple more’ to come

Matthew Cranston and Timothy Moore

Updated Feb 2, 2023 – 7.58am, first published at 6.03am

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Washington | The Federal Reserve started easing the pace of interest rate rises, lifting its benchmark rate by just 0.25 per cent on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), but warned “ongoing increases” would be needed to curtail high inflation.

Chairman Jerome Powell said policy will need to remain restrictive for “some time” and officials would need “substantially more evidence” to be confident inflation was on track to decline to the Fed’s 2 per cent target, down from its current level of 6.5 per cent.

Matthew Cranston was The Australian Financial Review’s United States correspondent.

Timothy Moore writes on equities, commodities and monetary policy. He writes Before the Bell and contributes to the Markets Live blog.