The Federal Reserve Board of Governors of the United States ended its two-day monetary policy meeting on the 14th and announced that the target range of Federal funds rate between 5% and 5.25% would remain unchanged. This is the first time the Federal Reserve has suspended interest rate hikes after 10 consecutive rate hikes since March 2022, in line with previous market expectations. In a statement released on the same day, the Federal Reserve stated that recent indicators show that US economic activity continues to expand moderately, with strong job growth in recent months and low unemployment rates, but inflation remains high. In order to support the realization of employment maximization and the long-term inflation target of 2%, the Federal Reserve decided to keep the target range of the Federal funds rate unchanged, so that the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve can assess more information and its impact on monetary policy. The economic outlook forecast released by the Federal Reserve on the same day showed that the median forecast of the Federal funds rate for this year by Federal Reserve officials rose to 5.6% from 5.1% in March, suggesting that interest rates will still be raised again this year. At the same time, the median predicted increase in the core personal consumption expenditure price index for this year has increased from 3.6% in March to 3.9%, the median predicted increase in actual GDP growth this year has increased from 0.4% in March to 1%, and the median predicted unemployment rate for this year has decreased from 4.5% in March to 4.1%. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said at a press conference on the same day that almost all the members of the Federal Open Market Committee who attended the meeting expected that it would be appropriate to further raise interest rates this year. The Federal Reserve has not yet made a decision on whether to raise interest rates at the July monetary policy meeting. (New News Agency)