the federal reserve maintained its target fed funds rate range of between zero and 025 the fed also said it may soon begin tapering its monthly asset purchases “if progress continues broadly as expected the committee judges that a moderation in the pace of asset purchases may soon be warranted” the fed said wednesday in a statement the fed said vaccination progress will continue to reduce the impact of the covid19 pandemic but economic risks remain for now the statement comes after the us added 235000 jobs in august significantly short of the 720000 jobs economists were expecting wage growth was up 43 in the month and the us unemployment rate fell to 52 related link the volatility index spikes on evergrande fears heres how to play it economic projections the fed has said its taking a new “average inflation targeting” approach that may involve keeping interest rates near 0 for a while even though inflation levels have exceeded its 2 inflation target throughout the year fed chair jerome powell has said elevated inflation levels are “transitory” as the us economy recovers fully from the pandemic on wednesday the federal reserve released new “dot plot” economic forecasts nine fed members see no change to interest rates through at least 2023 six members forecast rates will rise by 025 and three members forecast a 05 rise by 2023 federal reserve members are projecting a 2021 us unemployment rate of 48 up from 45 in june the committee’s 2021 gdp growth projection dropped from 7 to 59 the fed’s 2022 gdp growth rate projection ticked higher from 33 to 38 the fed is now projecting 2021 pce inflation of 42 up from previous estimates of 34 markets react the spdr sp 500 etf trust nyse spy traded higher by 11 after the fed announcement the yield on 10year us treasury bonds decreased slightly on wednesday to 1304 down 002 on the day