国际英语资讯:U.S. Fed expected to leave rates unchanged in first meeting of 2020_时事

国际英语资讯:U.S. Fed expected to leave rates unchanged in first meeting of 2020

"I don't think we should be making any moves at this point on the fed funds rate," Robert Kaplan, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, told CNBC in an interview earlier this month.

His comments were echoed by Charles Evans, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, who predicted that the Fed could go through the entire year without rate changes.

Tom Barkin, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, believed that the Fed has done a lot to support the economy's continued expansion and it's more important to step up on the fiscal side in the current environment.

"That includes trade actions and trade uncertainty, regulatory changes and regulatory uncertainty, geopolitical challenges and domestic politics," Barkin said in a speech in early January, adding the biggest boost to the U.S. economy would come from "lessening the uncertainty and lowering the volume."

While the Fed stressed the importance of independent monetary policy, Trump repeatedly called on the central bank to slash rates to boost the U.S. economy.

"The Fed should get smart & lower the Rate to make our interest competitive with other Countries which pay much lower even though we are, by far, the high standard," Trump tweeted Tuesday.

"We would then focus on paying off & refinancing debt! There is almost no inflation - this is the time (2 years late)!" the president added.

At a press conference in December, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that it would take a "material reassessment" of U.S. economic outlook before the Fed would change policy.