The U.S. Federal Reserve continued its gradual pace of interest rate increases on Wednesday, bumping up a key rate by 0.25 of a percentage point and signalling there are more hikes to come.
The Fed's key benchmark rate now sits at a still relatively low range of 1.5 to 1.75 per cent.
Wednesday's increase marked the first one of the year, following three hikes in 2017. Since it began bumping up rates back in 2015, the Fed has now made six increases.
The U.S. central bank is also holding to the outlook it gave in December that it will boost rates three times in total this year. However, it boosted its 2019 estimate from two rate hikes to three.
In announcing its decision, the Fed's policy-setting open market committee said that since it met in January the U.S. job market has continued to strengthen and economic activity has been rising moderately.
"The economic outlook has strengthened in recent months," the Fed said in a release. "The committee expects that, with further gradual adjustments in the stance of monetary policy, economic activity will expand at a moderate pace in the medium term and [labour] market conditions will remain strong."
The Fed said it sees inflation currently running below its stated target of two per cent, although it does expect inflation will rise in the coming months toward that goal.
The latest bump up in interest rates will mean higher U.S. borrowing costs for consumers and businesses.
In the immediate aftermath of the rate announcement, stock indices in the U.S. moved higher.
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