Fed Holds Key Interest Rate at Record Low

The Federal Reserve Wednesday maintained a pledge it made last month to hold the benchmark interest rate near zero through the middle of 2013 as long as unemployment stays high and the inflation outlook is “subdued,” Bloomberg reported.

The target rate has been at a record low in a range of zero to 0.25% since December 2008.

The Federal Open Market Committee said “business investment in equipment and software continues to expand” and that “inflation appears to have moderated since earlier in the year as prices of energy and some commodities have declined from their peaks. Longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable.”

Click here for the Fed’s full statement. (Federal Reserve website.)