{"id":555,"date":"2026-09-16T18:50:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T18:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/?p=555"},"modified":"2026-09-16T18:50:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T18:50:42","slug":"federal-reserve-raises-interest-rates-for-the-1st-time-since-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/?p=555","title":{"rendered":"Federal Reserve raises interest rates for the 1st time since 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh speaks during a news conference on July 29, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday in an effort to battle back a monthslong surge of\u00a0inflation<\/span>\u00a0set off by the\u00a0Iran war<\/span>. The move marks the central bank’s first rate increase since July 2023.<\/p>\n

The central bank hiked its benchmark rate a quarter of a percentage point, putting interest rates at a level between 3.75% and 4%.<\/p>\n

That figure marks a significant drop from a recent peak attained in 2023, but borrowing costs remain well above a 0% rate established at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

A 12-member policymaking board voted unanimously in favor of the rate increase.<\/p>\n

“The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long,” Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said at a press conference in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. “The committee\u2019s unanimous vote shows our resolve to achieve price stability on a timelier basis.”<\/p>\n

The move appears aimed at containing a recent bout of price increases. Global oil prices are hovering near a four-month high and the average price for a gallon of gasoline tops $4.30, according to\u00a0AAA<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The U.S. economy has shown signs of additional strain in recent days, including a\u00a0bond selloff<\/span>\u00a0that is pushing up borrowing costs for credit cards and mortgages.<\/p>\n

The price woes previously divided central bankers eager to contain inflation but reluctant to cool off the economy and weaken the labor market.<\/p>\n

The Fed opted to hold interest rates steady at its most recent meeting in July. Three of the 12 members on the Fed’s policymaking board, however, voted in favor of a rate hike, marking the largest number of dissenters casting ballots in the same direction in a decade.<\/p>\n

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, who took the helm of the central bank in May, has vowed to cool off persistently elevated price increases.<\/p>\n

“The Fed’s predominant focus right now should be on prices,” Warsh said in remarks last month at the Fed’s annual summer gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.<\/p>\n

Prices rose 3.4% in August compared to a year earlier, maintaining the same level from the prior month,\u00a0federal government data<\/span>\u00a0last week showed.<\/p>\n

Inflation stands more than a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.<\/p>\n

Despite a stubborn bout of inflation, the economy remains fairly robust by some measures.<\/p>\n

A blockbuster jobs report earlier this month\u00a0showed<\/span>\u00a0employers added 162,000 workers in August, demonstrating continued resilience for the nation’s labor market. The economy grew over three months ending in June, defying fear of a downturn triggered by the Iran war.<\/p>\n

Fighting in the Middle East kept global crude prices above $105 a barrel as of Wednesday, which amounted to a rise of about 50% since the Iran war broke out in late February.<\/p>\n

The average price of a gallon of gas in the U.S. stands at $4.36, putting it more than $1.30 higher than before the war,\u00a0AAA<\/span><\/a>\u00a0data showed.<\/p>\n

Record-high\u00a0diesel prices<\/span>\u00a0have raised transport costs for many everyday products, including groceries, clothes and furniture.<\/p>\n

The war in Iran, which began with a large-scale U.S.-Israeli attack in the winter, prompted Iran’s near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which facilitates one-fifth of global crude supply. Saudi Arabia over the weekend shut down a key pipeline bypassing the strait, which further constrained oil delivery and put upward pressure on prices.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh speaks during a news conference on July 29, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee\/Getty Images) (WASHINGTON) — The Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday in an effort to battle back a monthslong surge of\u00a0inflation\u00a0set off by the\u00a0Iran war. The move marks the central bank’s first rate increase since July […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":638,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kcfj570am.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}