Fed Expected to Leave Interest Rates Alone

If rates are left unchanged this week, it will be the six-consecutive meeting in which the Federal Reserve endorsed the status quo.
By: Barbara Hagenbaugh: REALTOR® Magazine Online
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged when it meets this week. If that happens, it will be the six-consecutive meeting in which the Fed endorsed the status quo.

Several economists believe the Fed will leave rates unchanged throughout 2007, making this year the first with no rate changes since 1993. That would be a big change from recent years; the Fed raised rates 17 times from June 2004 to June 2006.

Some economists acknowledge that concern over subprime mortgages and their effect on the economy could move the Fed to action, but most observers don’t believe that will happen. "It's not a trivial problem, but it's a self-contained problem," says Don Ratajczak, consulting economist at Morgan Keegan.