Fed seen holding rates steady

By Cate Chapman, Editor at LinkedIn News <– Click here to learn more about Cate and view some additional articles of hers.

The Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged Wednesday, but the central bank’s remarks will be scoured for clues on when it might start lowering them. Interest-rate traders bet there’s a 97.9% chance the Fed won’t change the rate from its target range of 5.25% to 5.50% at its meeting, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. The Fed has held it at that level, a 22-year high, since July, while the hottest inflation in decades has continued to cool. But investors are nearly evenly divided over whether there will be a rate cut in March.

• At the Fed’s December meeting, it projected three rate cuts this year as it pivots from a restrictive policy stance.