Fed Expected To Leave Interest Rates Unchanged With Midterms 1 Week Away

Federal Reserve policymakers will begin their two-day meeting to set interest rate policy on Tuesday, and the central bank is widely expected to hold off on further changes after hiking rates last month.Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh and the other members of the Federal Open Market Committee will cast their votes on rate policy on Wednesday. Financial markets now estimate a 90% probability that policymakers will leave the benchmark rate unchanged in its current range of 3.74% to 4.00%, according to CME FedWatch.In September, the Fed raised overnight rates for the first time in three years, in response to pernicious inflation. Most experts also expect another rate hike in December and at least one more next year.But with the midterm elections now just one week away, the central bank is now seen as likely to make no change on Wednesday, perhaps in part to avoid the risk of injecting monetary policy into midterm political debates.President Donald Trump has persistently called on the Fed to dramatically slash interest rates, which would supercharge the economy and reduce government borrowing costs. But so far, Trump has remained publicly supportive of Warsh, his handpicked choice to succeed ...