American households who are hoping interest rates will soon decline will have to wait a bit longer.
The Federal Reserve is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Wednesday, at least until there are clearer signs that inflation is growing more slowly. But forecasters will be listening to Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, for any clues about how much longer they expect to keep rates at relatively high levels.
The central bank has raised its key interest rate to 5.33 percent from near zero in a series of increases between March 2022 and last summer, and they’ve remained unchanged since then. The goal was to tamp down inflation, which has cooled considerably, but it is still higher than the Fed would like, suggesting that interest rates could remain high for longer than economists had previously expected.
For people with money stashed away in higher-yielding savings…
