Fed Chief: Only 1 More Rate Hike

Associated Press: REALTOR® Magazine Online
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke raised hopes yesterday that the quarter-point rise in interest rates he expects to put in place at the Fed’s next meeting May 10 will be the last for a while.

The Fed, which has raised rates 15 times at policy meetings in the past two years, "may decide to take no action at one or more meetings" in the future while waiting for economic information, Bernanke told Congress' Joint Economic Committee. "Of course, a decision to take no action at a particular meeting does not preclude actions at subsequent meetings," he added.

Boosting the rate to 5 percent at the Fed’s next meeting is a necessary step, Bernanke said, because, "Our assessment currently is that the risks to inflation are perhaps the more significant at the moment, and we need to address that."