As expected, the Federal Reserve announced its second rate hike of the current year. At the end of its meeting, the American central bank decided to raise the cost of money by 25 basis points to 1-1,25%. The one announced today by the Federal Open Market Committee, the monetary policy arm of the Fed, is the fourth monetary tightening since June 2006.
The one before today took place on March 15; before that there was another in December 2016 and the one even earlier in December 2015. Thus the normalization of the monetary policy of the central bank by Janet Yellen continues; it is a vote of confidence in the US economy now close to full employment.
Furthermore, the Federal Reserve has revised upwards its growth estimates for the current year, while leaving those for 2018 and 2019 unchanged. The unemployment forecasts for 2017 and the following two years also improve.
In particular, for 2017, the American Central Bank expects gross domestic product to grow by 2,2%, against the 2,1% estimated in March. This year the unemployment rate should stand at 4,3%, while three months ago the institute had spoken of 4,5%.
