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Fed signals 4 rate hikes this year, up from 3

The Federal Reserve also decided Wednesday to lift short-term rates for the second time this year.
Credit: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images
US Chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell looks on as he waits for the start of a meeting during the IMF/World Bank spring meeting in Washington, DC on April 21, 2018.

Federal Reserve policymakers expect to raise their benchmark interest rate four times this year, up from a March projection of three, reflecting their forecast that the unemployment rate will fall to a 50-year low later this year and inflation will rise more quickly.

The Fed also decided Wednesday to lift short-term rates for the second time this year, to between 1.75 and 2 percent. That suggests they will hike rates twice more this year to between 2.25 and 2.5 percent. Fed policymakers also expect three hikes next year, the same number they forecast in March, and one in 2020.

Fed officials expect unemployment to reach 3.6 percent by the end of this year, the lowest since 1969, down from an earlier forecast of 3.8 percent. Inflation will reach 2.1 percent late this year, slightly above the Fed's target, up from 1.9 percent previously forecast.

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