Federal Reserve policymakers on Wednesday cut their monthly bond-buying stimulus program by another $10 billion and held interest rates steady at near zero, offering no suggestions that they will raise them any time soon as the economic recovery improves.
The Fed also downgraded its economic projections for this year and 2015 from estimates made in June. The Fed now forecasts the economy will grow between 2% and 2.2% this year compared with a June forecast of 2.1% to 2.3%.
In 2015, the Fed forecasts the economy will expand between 2.6% and 3%. In June, the 2015 forecast was for growth between 3% and 3.2%.
Despite those projections, the Fed thinks the unemployment rate will fall faster than it forecast in June. The rate now could go as low as 5.9% by the end of this year and 5.4% in 2015.
Inflation continues to run below the Fed's annual target of 2%. The Labor Department reported Wednesday that consumer prices fell 0.2% last month, the first drop since April 2013.
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