The Federal Reserve continues to hold steady, slowing down the balance sheet reduction starting in April, with expectations of fewer rate cuts by officials this year, while lowering economic forecasts and raising inflation expectations

The Federal Reserve's statement removed the wording that the risks to employment and inflation targets are broadly balanced, stating that uncertainty in the economic outlook has increased. The method for slowing down the balance sheet reduction is to lower the monthly redemption cap for U.S. Treasury bonds from $25 billion to $5 billion. It still expects two rate cuts this year, but in the dot plot, the number of those expecting no rate cuts this year increased from one to four, while those expecting two rate cuts decreased from ten to nine. The GDP growth forecast for this year was lowered from 2.1% to 1.7%, and the unemployment rate was slightly raised to 4.4%. The core PCE inflation forecast was raised from 2.5% to 2.8%. The "New Federal Reserve News Agency" noted that the Fed's higher inflation and unemployment rate expectations this year reflect the potential impact of tariffs