The Federal Reserve pledged to maintain at least the current pace of asset purchases and projected interest rates will remain near zero through 2022, as Chairman Jerome Powell committed the central bank to using all its tools to help the economy recover from the coronavirus.
"We’re not even thinking about thinking about raising rates,” he told a video news conference Wednesday. "We are strongly committed to using our tools to do whatever we can for as long as it takes.”
The Federal Open Market Committee earlier said it would increase its holdings of Treasury securities and agency residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities "at least at the current pace” to sustain smooth market functioning.