The Fed Raises Rates Again

Sep 26, 2018

What is the biggest fear to agitate the mortgage industry? According to a new survey by Genworth Mortgage Insurance, it is the prospect of rising interest rates

The Federal Reserve has given the green light to raise rates again.

The central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted unanimously to raise the federal funds rate by 0.25 percent, setting the target range at two percent to 2.25 percent. In announcing its decision, the Fed sited a strong job market, low unemployment and increases in household spending and business fixed investment, along with indications that “longer-term inflation expectations are little changed, on balance.”

The new rate hike is the third for this year, and it affirms comments made last month by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell that “if the strong growth in income and jobs continues, further gradual increases in the target range for the federal funds rate will likely be appropriate.”

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Phil Hall

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Sep 26, 2018

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