The Federal Reserve on Wednesday signaled it will start raising its near-zero interest rate soon, in a bid to tamp down rising inflation that could weigh on the U.S. economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. After a two-day meeting of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee, the bank maintained its target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 0.25 percent and decided to continue the tapering of its asset-purchase program, as widely expected.
