Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in September indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and that economic activity has been rising at a strong rate. Job gains have been strong, on average, in recent months, and the unemployment rate has declined. Household spending has continued to grow strongly, while growth of business fixed investment has moderated from its rapid pace earlier in the year. On a 12-month basis, both overall inflation and inflation for items other than food and energy remain near 2 percent. Indicators of longer-term inflation expectations are little ... (full story)

This is a comparison of Thursday's FOMC statement with the one issued after the Fed's previous policymaking meeting on September 26. Text removed from the September statement is in red with a horizontal line through the middle. Text appearing for the first time in the new statement is in red and underlined. Black text appears in both statements. (full story)

In its first meeting since October's market turmoil and this week's midterm elections, the Federal Reserve voted to maintain the current level of its benchmark interest rate. The policymaking Federal Open Market Committee, as expected, unanimously approved keeping the federal funds rate in a range of 2 percent to 2.25 percent. Markets figured the central bank would hold the line at this meeting and probably approve a quarter-point hike in December, which would be the fourth of the year. There were a few tweaks to the way policymakers are viewing economic conditions. On the upside, the committee noted that the ... (full story)