Fed Lifts Rates a Quarter Point in Opening Bid to Curb Inflation

(Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point and signaled hikes at all six remaining meetings this year, launching a campaign to tackle the fastest inflation in four decades even as risks to economic growth mount.

Policymakers led by Chair Jerome Powell voted 8-1 to lift the American central bank’s key rate to a target range of 0.25% to 0.5%, the first increase since 2018, after two years of holding borrowing costs near zero to insulate the economy from the pandemic. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard dissented in favor of a half-point hike, the first vote against a decision since September 2020.