The press release reads very much like the one seven weeks earlier. Again and as was very widely expected, the federal funds rate was left unchanged at 3.50-3.75%. The insertion of a new sentence in paragraph two stating “the implications of developments in the Middle East for the U.S. economy are uncertain” merely states the obvious that elevated uncertainty has become even more so. A more interesting modification was that Governor Christopher Waller’s vote shifted from a dissent in late January that had favored a 25-basis point interest rate cut to agreeing this time with the overwhelming majority to leave the rate ... (full story)