Fed day raises interest rates by a quarter point to 2.25 per cent

中文导读：美联储昨天升息25个基点至2.25%，并表示它对当前经济状况的评估没有改变。

美联储表示，货币政策仍保持通融，尽管今年能源价格上升，但产出仍有适度增长，通货膨胀和长期通胀预期也保持不变。这次广泛预期的调整的背景是，新数据显示，高企的油价和假日季节前的零售库存储备，将10月份的美国贸易逆差推高至一个新的历史纪录。美联储昨天表示，将继续“以可能将是审慎的步伐”升息，而未表示不久将改变升息25个基点的做法。此次升息在外界普遍预期之中。下午早些时候宣布升息后，金融市场几乎没什么变化。

The US Federal Reserve yesterday raised interest rates by a quarter point to 2.25 per cent, and signalled there had been no change in its assessment of current economic conditions.

The policymaking Federal Open Market Committee left the wording of its policy statement, which accompanied the announcement, virtually unchanged from its last meeting.

The Fed said that monetary policy remains accommodative, that output is growing at a moderate pace in spite of the rise in energy prices this year, and that inflation and long-term inflation expectations remain unchanged.

The widely anticipated adjustment comes amid new data showing that high oil prices and retail stockpiling ahead of the holiday season pushed the US trade deficit to a new record in October.

Yesterday The US central bank said it would continue to raise rates “at a pace that is likely to be measured”, and gave no indication that it will take a break from quarter-point increases soon.

The rate rise was widely expected and financial markets changed little after the early afternoon announcement.

Meanwhile, the US trade gap widened to $55.46bn from $50.9bn the previous month, according to the Commerce Department. It was more than economists had expected and boosted the tally for the first 10 months of the year to $500.5bn, exceeding the full-year record of $496.5bn set last year.

Imports of goods and services rose by 3.4 per cent in October to $153.5bn. This marks the fastest rate in almost two years and far outstrips a 0.6 per cent rise in exports to $98.1bn itself a record high.

The White House is hosting an economic summit with business leaders and economists in Washington today and tomorrow to discuss President George W. Bush's plans for his second term, including Social Security and tax reform.

Business groups have told the administration that reducing the fiscal deficit should be its number-one priority.

The FOMC also announced that, henceforth, it will release the minutes of its meetings three weeks after it meets. The previous practice was to keep the details of the committee's deliberations under wraps until after the subsequent meeting when they are no longer as useful to investors as a guide.

The minutes of yesterday's meeting will be released on January 4.

In the one change in its policy statement, released yesterday, the commitee slightly toned down its assessment of the labour market, saying that “conditions continue to improve gradually” a slightly less definitive than its statement in November that labour market conditions had improved.

The employment report, released ahead of the FOMC statement, showed that 112,000 jobs were created in November a disappointment following the robust job growth of 303,000 in October.

Ironing out the monthly bumps, however, employment growth has averaged 178,000 over the past three months and 185,000 since the start of the year fast enough to take in labour market slack, and to convince policymakers that employment growth has turned the corner after the disappointment of the previous two years.

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