(Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve held its benchmark overnight interest rate steady in the 5.25%-5.50% range at its March 19-20 policy meeting, and officials continued to anticipate approving three quarter-percentage-point rate cuts by the end of 2024.
Before policymakers begin to ease borrowing costs, they say they want to see more data confirming that inflation is returning to the U.S. central bank's 2% target.
Here's a recap of recent key data watched by the Fed:
EMPLOYMENT (Released April 5; next release May 3):
U.S. firms added a larger-than-expected 303,000 jobs in February, and employment gains in the previous two months were revised up by 22,000. The unemployment rate fell unexpectedly to 3.8%, marking the 26th straight month below 4% - the longest such run since the 1960s - and prompting Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin to remark: "That's a quite-strong jobs report."
Fed officials have become more comfortable with the idea that continued strong job growth could still allow inflation to fall, especially if the supply of labor continues to grow and wage growth eases. Both did in March: The workforce grew by 469,000, the most since August, and annual wage growth eased to 4.1%, the lowest rate of increase since June 2021. Still, that rate is above the 3.0%-3.5% range that most policymakers view as consistent with the Fed's 2% inflation target.
JOB OPENINGS (Released April 2, next release May 1)
Fed Chair Jerome Powell keeps a close eye on the U.S. Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) for information on the imbalance between labor supply and demand, and particularly on the number of job openings available to each person who is without a job but looking for one. The ratio had been falling steadily towards its pre-pandemic level, but since October has remained in the 1.35-1.43 range, higher than the 1.2-to-1 level seen before the health crisis.
The number fell in the most recent release, for February, as the number of people seeking work rose, pushing up the unemployment rate.
Other aspects of the survey, like the quits rate, have edged back to pre-pandemic levels.
INFLATION (PCE released March 29; next release CPI on April 10):
The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, which the Fed uses to set its 2% inflation target, increased at a 2.5% annual rate in February, up from the 2.4% rate seen in January. Core inflation stripped of volatile food and energy prices rose 2.8%, a slight decline from the upwardly revised 2.9% in January. Neither number is likely to boost confidence among Fed policymakers that inflation will steadily return to their target.
The CPI had risen 3.2% on a year-on-year basis in February, up from 3.1% in the prior month, and higher than analysts expected. The core rate excluding food and energy costs, meanwhile, only edged down to 3.8% from 3.9%, another reminder that the Fed's inflation battle may last longer than anticipated. Rising gasoline and shelter costs contributed the bulk of the CPI increase. Whether the Fed's hoped-for consistent easing in housing costs is imminent remains uncertain.