Fed announces three quarters percentage-point rate hike to control inflation

From The Washington Post | Economic Policy by Rachel Siegel

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday hiked interest rates by three quarters of a percentage point, its most aggressive move yet to try to control inflation, as it squeezes the U.S. economy.

For weeks, Fed leaders set expectations for an increase of half a percentage point, as it did in May, in the latest of seven rate increases slated for this year. But a surprisingly bleak inflation report released last week, the war in Ukraine plus growing signs that the markets and American public have lost faith in the Fed, ignited a more forceful push from central bank policymakers as they wrapped up two days of meetings. The Fed has not enacted a hike of this size since 1994, but signaled similarly-large hikes are coming later this year.

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