The Federal Open Market Committee left its target for the federal funds rate unchanged on Wednesday afternoon. Two members, Lisa D. Cook and Beth M. Hammack, dissented, each preferring a further quarter point increase.
At 2 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday 28 October the Federal Open Market Committee said it would maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3-3/4 to 4 percent. The range was the same going into the meeting as coming out of it.
The statement records a vote of 10 to 2. Lisa D. Cook and Beth M. Hammack voted against the action; each, the statement says, preferred to raise the target range by a quarter of a percentage point. The statement does not list the names of those voting in favour.
The National Association of Home Builders’ Eye on Housing, reporting the decision, notes that the Committee’s September meeting raised the range by a quarter point. A second trade account, Real Estate News, reports the same September move.
Stocks closed slightly higher. The S&P 500 ended at 7,743.98, up 0.28 per cent; the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 52,475.10, up 0.19 per cent; and the Nasdaq Composite at 26,549.85, up 0.27 per cent, on figures from Investopedia and Capp Notes. Both put the 10 year Treasury yield at about 5.04 per cent late in the day.
| Measure | 28 Oct |
|---|---|
| Fed funds target range | 3.75–4% |
| Votes to hold | 10 |
| Votes to raise 1/4 point | 2 |
| S&P 500 close | 7,743.98 |
| Dow Industrials close | 52,475.10 |
| Nasdaq Composite close | 26,549.85 |
| 10 year Treasury yield | about 5.04% |
Range and vote from the FOMC statement of 28 October. Closing levels from Investopedia and the Capp Notes newsletter, which agree. The yield is Capp Notes’ 5.044 per cent and Investopedia’s late afternoon figure of about 5.04 per cent.
Forecast unavailable; the National Weather Service page could not be retrieved this morning.
These circulated in the window and did not make the paper. They are printed because the absence of a story is information too, and because a thin morning ought to look thin rather than padded. Where one source was seen, it is linked so you may read it yourself; the link is not an endorsement.
The rule. Nothing runs unless two sources that are not republishing the same copy support it. Preferred: primary documents, independent outlets, trade press. The Brighter Side holds to the same rule.
Excluded. Legacy national broadcast and legacy national papers; government and state funded newsrooms. A government data release is a primary document and is allowed. A government funded newsroom is not.
Wire policy. AP, Reuters, AFP and Bloomberg copy may stand as a second source. Every such item is marked, in red, so you may weigh it yourself.
Today.
Weather. Forecasts and observations come from the National Weather Service, a government data release, and are reprinted as issued.