China News Agency, New York, February 1 (Reporter Wang Fan) The US Federal Reserve Board announced on February 1 that it will raise the target range of the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a level of 4.5% to 4.75%, which is in line with market expectations.

It was the eighth consecutive rate hike by the Fed since last March.

　　The Fed issued a statement after its two-day monetary policy meeting.

The statement changed the wording "inflation remains high" to "inflation has eased, but is still high", and reiterated that it is highly concerned about inflation risks and is expected to continue to raise interest rates.

　　Recent indicators point to moderate growth in U.S. spending and production, strong job growth and low unemployment, the statement said.

Inflation has moderated, but remains elevated.

The Russia-Ukraine situation has exacerbated global uncertainty.

The Fed pays close attention to inflation risks.

To support the achievement of the goals of full employment and 2 percent longer-run inflation, the Fed decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to a range of 4.5 percent to 4.75 percent and expected that such continued increases would be appropriate to create a sufficiently restrictive monetary policy stance.

In addition, the Fed will continue to reduce the size of its balance sheet.

　　Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said at a press conference after the regular monetary policy meeting that inflation data over the past three months have shown that the pace of price growth has slowed, but we still need more evidence to determine that inflation is on a sustained decline track.

History strongly warns against easing policy too soon.

The Fed's focus is not on short-term trends, but on ongoing changes in broader financial conditions.

The current judgment is that the Fed has not adopted a sufficiently strict policy stance, so it is appropriate to expect continued rate hikes.

At the regular monetary policy meeting in March this year, the Federal Reserve will update its assessment of terminal interest rates.

　　The three major U.S. stock indexes turned from losses to gains after Powell's speech.

As of the close of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 6.92 points, or 0.02%, to close at 34092.96 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 231.77 points, or 2%, to close at 11816.32 points; the S & P 500 stock index rose 42.61 points, Or 1.05%, to close at 4119.21 points.

　　The Wall Street Journal said the hike marked the second time in a row that the Fed has slowed its pace of rate hikes.

After Powell's speech, investors expected that if the inflation data continued to improve, the Fed's previously forecasted terminal interest rate between 5% and 5.25% may face a reduction.

Bloomberg quoted analysts as saying that Fed officials have begun to talk on both sides. While suggesting that further interest rate hikes are appropriate, they also admit that they will consider the cumulative amount of tightening in future policy decisions.

Markets have turned dovish on how high rates will go and how long they will stay there.

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