The Fed will announce this afternoon whether it will raise or maintain interest rates in the United States

This afternoon it is expected that the Federal Reserve American will announce whether interest rates will be paused or increased this month. According to analysts and economists, interest rates are unlikely to rise and will remain within the current range of 5.25% and 5.5%, the highest level since 2001. All this after eleven increases since March 2022.

In all its meetings are the members of the Federal Open Market Committee, the body responsible for decision-making Whether or not rates will be increasedhave decided to upload them, except last June when they decided to take a break.

However, they increased it again in July and it is expected that they will opt for a break again this afternoon.

All this despite the fact that the inflation percentage in the United States it rose five-tenths to 3.7% in August, the second consecutive increase after a series of more than a year of declines from the 9.1% peak reached in June 2022.

However, the annual rate of Underlying inflationwhich measures price growth without taking into account energy or food – and is one of the indicators the Fed focuses most on when making its decisions – fell by four-tenths in August, confirming the downward trend.

Experts say the most important debate among Federal Open Market Committee members is If rates are further increased before the end of the yearduring the two meetings held in November and December.

Last week the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points to 4.5%, the highest level since 2001, and this will most likely be the last rate hike in this tightening cycle.

The Fed will make its decision in a context of poor economic growth American, which grew by 0.5% in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter, according to the latest published official data, is still estimated.

This figure is comparable to the growth the country recorded in the first quarter of the year.

In terms of unemployment, the unemployment rate has risen by three-tenths to 3.8%, a figure that is still low and that many economists consider full employment.

Wall Street closed in the red this Tuesday and the main indicator, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell 0.31% on another day ahead of the Federal Reserve’s decision.