The Fed's move raised its key short-term rate to a range of 3.75% to 4%, its highest level in 15 years. It was the central bank's sixth rate hike this year - a streak that has made mortgages and other consumer and business loans increasingly expensive and heightened the risk of a recession.
For now, the persistence of inflated prices and higher borrowing costs is pressuring American households and has undercut the ability of Democrats to campaign on the health of the job market as they try to keep control of Congress. Republican candidates have hammered Democrats on the punishing impact of inflation in the run-up to the midterm elections that will end Tuesday.
Wednesday's rate increase coincided with growing concerns that the Fed may tighten credit so much as to derail the economy. The government has reported that the economy grew last quarter, and employers are still hiring at a solid pace. But the housing market has cratered, and consumers are barely increasing their spending.
"So long as those two components remain strong," she said, the Fed's policymakers "cannot count on inflation coming down" close to their 2% target within the next two years. Yet the job market remains consistently strong, which could make it harder for the Fed to cool the economy and curb inflation. This week, the government reported that companies posted more job openings in September than in August. There are now 1.9 available jobs for each unemployed worker, an unusually large supply.
This is jus horrible da middle-class& low class r gettin even poorer.were BARELY maken it now
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