Federal Reserve pauses interest-rate hikes for now

The Federal Reserve has halted increasing its target interest rate, the Federal Funds Rate, at 5 percent to 5.25 percent, as consumer inflation reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics continues to slow down, now down to an elevated 4 percent the past 12 months. The biggest offsets on inflation the past year, which peaked at 9.1 percent annualized in June 2022,…