WASHINGTON (Dec. 16, 2009) — Citing an improving economy and a glimmer of hope in the employment situation, the Federal Reserve announced it will hold interest rates stable for the time being.
“Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in November suggests that economic activity has continued to pick up and that the deterioration in the labor market is abating,” the Fed said in a press release today.
Subdued and stable inflation, along with low rates of resource utilization, mandates keeping the federal funds rate low, according to the press release. Therefore, the Board of Governors voted to keep the federal funds rate at 0 to ¼ percent.
The Fed issued the press release close on the heels of the announcement that Time magazine has named Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke its 2009 Person of the Year.