U.S. economy, job market continue to strengthen, Fed saysJuly 30, 2015 - 08:41 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. economy and job market continue to strengthen, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday, July 29, leaving the door open for a possible interest rate hike when central bank policymakers next meet in September, according to Reuters. Following their latest two-day policy meeting, Fed officials said they felt the economy had overcome a first-quarter slowdown and was "expanding moderately" despite a downturn in the energy sector and headwinds from overseas. They nodded in particular to the "solid job gains" seen in recent months. "On balance, a range of labor market indicators suggest that underutilization of labor resources has diminished since early this year," the Fed said in a policy statement that kept rates unchanged. The Fed also said it now only needs to see "some" more improvement in the labor market, a qualification that analysts said strongly suggested it believes the recent solid U.S. job gains will continue. "They slightly lowered the hurdle for a rate hike by adding the word 'some' to their conditions required for further improvement in the labor market," said Shyam Rajan, head of U.S. interest rate strategy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Although the Fed may have ramped up expectations of a rate hike in September, it didn't give a clear signal of its plans, Reuters says. Besides the additional improvement on the labor front, it said it also needed to be more confident that low inflation will rise to the 2 percent medium-term target. U.S. Treasury prices were largely unchanged after the Fed statement. U.S. stocks rose and the dollar was stronger against a basket of currencies. The Fed's policy statement also retained language saying that risks are "nearly balanced," suggesting it is still more concerned about a new economic downturn rather than of rapidly rising inflation. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Scholz hopes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty will be signed this year German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hopes that a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be signed this year. Ucom equips four bus stops in Ijevan with free Wi-Fi Ucom now provides free Wi-Fi coverage in smart bus stops in four communities of Ijevan. Armenians stage more campaigns against territorial concessions to Azerbaijan Protesters blocked more roads across Armenia on Friday, April 26 in continuing attempts to scuttle territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. Czech-Armenian military cooperation discussed in Yerevan A delegation led by the Director General for the Industrial Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic visited Armenia. |