federal reserve officials on wednesday raised the federalfunds rate by half a point and gave their latest policy predictions but the outlook for the path of interest rates from here still isn’t clear the sharp rapid phase of policy tightening is in the rearview mirror now the question shifts to how far rates will rise from how quickly as has been the case all year the fed is focused on getting inflation down from decadeshigh levels officials have taken the fedfunds rate to a target range of 425 to 450 from a hair above zero over seven meetings which included four straight 075 percentagepoint hikes