Fed Again Holds Interest Rate at Record Low

For the 12th straight time, the Federal Reserve voted Wednesday to keep a key U.S. interest rate at a record low “target range” of zero to 0.25%.

The Fed last held the federal funds interest rate in mid-March. It had first lowered rate to the zero range in December 2008.

The federal funds rate is the rate that that banks charge each other.

The Fed said it “continues to anticipate that economic conditions, including low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation trends, and stable inflation expectations, are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.”

Fed governor Thomas Hoenig voted for a third straight time to raise the rate, the Federal Open Market Committee’s lone dissenter.

Click here for the Fed’s full statement. (Federal Reserve Web site.)