- Mumbai mourns Indian industrialist Ratan Tata
- China opens $71 bn 'swap facility' to boost markets
- Asian markets track Wall St record as Hong Kong, Shanghai stabilise
- 'Denying my potential': women at Japan's top university call out gender imbalance
- China's central bank says opens up $70.6 bn in liquidity to boost market
- Youth facing unprecedented wave of violence, UN envoy warns
- 'A casino in every kitchen': Brazil's online gambling craze
- Nobel chemistry winner sees engineered proteins solving tough problems
- Discord seen as online home for renegades
- US forecasts severe solar storm starting Thursday
- Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse
- One dead as storm Kirk tears through Spain, Portugal, France
- Indian business titan Ratan Tata dead at 86
- Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
- Steve McQueen debuts new WWII film at London festival
- Nobel winners hope protein work will spur 'incredible' breakthroughs
- What are proteins again? Nobel-winning chemistry explained
- AI steps into science limelight with Nobel wins
- Overshooting 1.5C risks 'irreversible' climate impact: study
- Demis Hassabis, from chess prodigy to Nobel-winning AI pioneer
- Global stocks diverge as Chinese shares tumble
- Time runs out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Chad issues warning ahead of more devastating floods
- Creator's death no bar to new 'Dragon Ball' products
- Chinese stocks tumble on lack of fresh stimulus
- Trio wins chemistry Nobel for protein design, prediction
- Braving war: Lebanon's 'badass' airline defies odds
- US weighs Google breakup in landmark trial
- Chinese stocks tumble on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- 7-Eleven owner confirms new takeover offer from Couche-Tard
- A US climate scientist sees hurricane Helene's devastation firsthand
- Can carbon credits help close coal plants?
- Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers
- 7-Eleven owner's shares spike on report of new buyout offer
- Your 'local everything': what 7-Eleven buyout battle means for Japan
- AI-aided research, new materials eyed for Nobel Chemistry Prize
- The US economy is solid: Why are voters gloomy?
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
- Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Putin: Bob Woodward book
- Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained
- Boeing delivers 27 MAX jets in September despite strike
- Stock markets diverge as Hong Kong sinks, oil prices fall
- US trade gap narrowest in five months as imports slip
- Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
- Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for 'foundational' AI breakthroughs
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China slaps provisional tariffs on EU brandy imports
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for key breakthroughs in AI
US Fed unveils smaller rate hike but signals inflation fight not over
America's Federal Reserve slowed its pace of interest rate hikes Wednesday, tempering an aggressive campaign to rein in costs as inflation cools while signaling the battle is not yet over.
The US central bank announced a quarter-point hike to the benchmark lending rate at the end of its two-day policy meeting, taking the rate to a target range of 4.50-4.75 percent.
"Inflation has eased somewhat but remains elevated," said the Fed's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in a statement.
"The committee anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate" to bring inflation back to policymakers' two percent target over time, the statement said.
The Fed has cranked up interest rates eight times since March 2022, including four consecutive 0.75 percentage point increases, lifting borrowing costs in hopes of dampening demand.
The aim is to rein in inflation, which surged to its fastest pace in decades last year but has since come off a peak.
On Wednesday, the Fed acknowledged that recent indicators "point to modest growth in spending and production" as economic activity eases.
The 0.25 percentage point rise marks a step down from December's half-point hike and the series of bigger spikes last year.
But the FOMC statement suggests that rate increases will continue.
It stressed that officials are "highly attentive to inflation risks" amid fallout from Russia's war against Ukraine, which is contributing to greater global uncertainty.
- Not done yet -
The Fed will want "concrete evidence that they've killed inflation, and they haven't yet," Ryan Sweet, chief US economist at Oxford Economics, told AFP.
While an easing of supply chain stress and shift in consumer spending from goods to services allows some costs to moderate, Sweet expects that services costs will keep the Fed on a "rate-hiking course."
Analysts anticipate the Fed is looking for labor market conditions to ease, reducing wage pressures and services inflation.
For now, data released Tuesday showed that a measure of pay and benefits rose less than expected in the fourth quarter last year.
On Wednesday, payroll firm ADP's figures indicated private hiring slowed more than expected in January, adding to signs that the labor market is cooling.
- Time to halt? -
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist of Pantheon Macroeconomics, argues it is time to pause the Fed's rate hikes, saying in a tweet Tuesday that "their work is done."
"They have suppressed inflation expectations; the Covid distortions to rents and margins are working through and will drive inflation down," he added.
"Every further Fed rate hike from here just increases the chance of an entirely unnecessary recession," said Shepherdson.
Some Democrats in Congress have also expressed concern over rate increases, with Senator John Hickenlooper calling this week for the central bank to "proceed with caution."
But Fed officials have expressed determination to stay the course, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell telling reporters in December that "the historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy."
Sweet of Oxford Economics told AFP: "If they signal that they're done and then have to reverse course, that's going to be very disruptive to financial markets."
In a speech this month, Fed Governor Christopher Waller cautioned against being misled by a temporary trend of positive data.
He added that he will be looking for recent improvements in inflation figures to continue, but there is a "considerable way to go toward our two percent inflation goal."
A.Samuel--CPN