Federal Reserve Holds Rates Near Zero

The U.S. Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that it will keep interest rates unchanged in the range between zero and 0.25%.

The Federal Reserve said in a statement that it decided to start reducing the monthly pace of its net asset purchases by $10 billion in T-bills, and $5 billion in mortgage-backed securities of agencies.

The Feds stated that it seeks from these measures to increase job opportunities and keep the inflation rate at 2% in the long term.

Later this month, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is expected to increase its holdings of Treasury securities by at least $70 billion per month, and agency mortgage-backed securities by at least $35 billion per month.

It stated that "from December, the committee will increase its holdings of T-bills by at least $60 billion per month, and mortgage-backed securities by agencies by at least $30 billion."