Investing.com - The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, keeping them in a range between 1.25% - 1.50%.
The Federal Reserve signalled that it would push ahead on its monetary policy tightening path as economic activity has been rising at a solid rate, while inflation remained low but is expected to "move up" in the coming months.
"The Committee expects that, with further gradual adjustments in the stance of monetary policy, economic activity will expand at a moderate pace and labor market conditions will remain strong," The Federal Reserve noted in its monetary policy statement. "Inflation on a 12‑month basis is expected to move up this year and to stabilize around the Committee's 2 percent objective over the medium term."
The somewhat upbeat outlook on inflation comes as data on Monday showed that the Core PCE Price Index, the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, rose 1.5% in December.
The dollar rose 0.12% to trade at 89.12 while gold futures turned negative falling 0.25% to $1,331.80.
The policy meeting was Fed Chair Janet Yellen's last as head of the central bank.