Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday updated investors and economists on how they are thinking about inflation and employment in the United States. The central bank decided not to raise interest rates from near zero nor adjust the pace at which it buys government bonds each month.
Investors are paying close attention to how Chairman Jerome Powell characterizes the economic outlook given the spread of the delta variant of Covid-19 and its timeline for tapering its monthly bond purchases.
Powell said the U.S. economy is still a good deal away from making "substantial further progress" toward the Fed's dual mandates of stable prices and maximum employment.
"I'd say we have some ground to cover on the labor market side," Powell said Wednesday. "I think we're some way away from having had substantial further progress toward the maximum employment goal."