There was no Fed rate hike in the interest rates by the US Central Bank and left rates near zero percent. The US Central bank has not increased the rates in past one decade and rates have been hovering at zero percent since the crisis of December 2008, said CNN Money. However, the federal banking regulator indicated that it may raise the interest rates for the first time just before the end of the year, said NBC News.
This led markets to open on lower side especially the European markets after the Chinese slow down. Fed chairperson Janet Yellen spoke to the media and after the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington, reported The Guardian. She highlighted uncertainty in the global economic scenario during her post-meeting press conference. While speaking on the subject of Fed interest rate hike, she made references to the Chinese economy and other emerging market that have increased volatility in financial markets, said Bloomberg.
The US economy is still battling with global economic slowdown, volatile stock markets and low inflation rate in the country. This eventually led to lowering the chances of raising the interest rates in September, said CNN Money.
According to currency analyst Christopher Vecchio, DailyFX, any US rate hike before Christmas seems unlikely. The implied probability of a rate hike in October, per the Fed funds futures contract, dropped from near 45% yesterday to 18% today; for December, from above 60% yesterday to 26% today, said The Guardian.
Majority of the Fed committee member had expected the rates will be hiked in 2015. The committee still has two meetings left in this year in October and December. Fed committee remains optimistic about the US economic growth this year up to 2.1% from current 1.9%, reported CNN.