In the monetary policy statement, the Federal Open Market Committee members upgraded their assessment of the economy.
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“They are not going to pre-empt economic growth”, said Aguero.
Employers added just 11,000 jobs in May, helping prompt Fed officials to stand pat at the June meeting.
The statement notes that household spending has also improved and that the overall economy is growing at a moderate rate.
Blanchflower thinks politics and the November election will be a major factor in the Fed’s deliberations.
But the statement pointedly said: “Near-term risks to the economic outlook diminished”, among its most positive appraisals in months.
That’s notable as one of the only indications of a Fed “rethink”, writes Michael Shaoul of Marketfield Asset Management.
The benchmark overnight interest rate was kept in a range of 0.25% to 0.5%. Policymakers noted that “near-term risks to the economic outlook had diminished”.
The statement suggested officials have become less concerned about the economic outlook than they were in June, when the weak May jobs report, slow first-quarter growth and a looming vote by the United Kingdom on whether to stay in the European Union gave them trepidation about the outlook and whether to raise short-term rates. The statement Wednesday effectively left the Fed’s options open for its September 20-21 gathering.
The Fed is due to meet three more times this year, although is not expected to raise rates in November as the meeting is just one week before the USA presidential election.
Officials are still watching developments overseas for new threats to the outlook.
Last December, when the Fed bumped up the rates for first time after the 2008 financial crises, it also disclosed plans to boost the interest rates gradually to address the market risk.
The social media company reported another loss and said user adoption rates continue to slow.
“The bias over the near term is for the market to continue to move higher”, said Eric Wiegand, senior portfolio manager at U.S. Bank’s Private Client Reserve. The Fed did not make any reference to the current political or terrorism situation that has clouded the USA and Europe, but did reiterate they are ready to act if required.
The central bank chose to hold rates, as was widely expected.
The statement contrasted June’s jobs report with “weak growth in May”.
The July jobs report is out a week tomorrow night, Sydney time and three weeks Fed Chair Janet Yellen speaks at the annual central banking conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming – a venue where Fed chairs have often used to signal policy changes or to reinforce current policy stances.
A global economic slowdown, financial market volatility and uncertainty over the impact of Britain’s June vote to leave the European Union have repeatedly forced the Fed to delay another rate increase.
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Once again, the lone dissenting voice in the vote was Esther George, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, who wants to see rates increased immediately.
