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The Federal Reserve ended its historic easing program Wednesday, ceasing the final $15 billion of bond purchases it had made in an effort to keep the economic recovery going.
Though it ended the program, the Federal Open Market Committee kept the "considerable period of time language" that investors had considered crucial in the central bank's map for when it would raise interest rates. The "considerable" time refers to when the Fed will begin raising rates after the end of the monthly bond buying.
To that end, it said it would keep its short-term target funds rate anchored near zero until it seems more improvement from the economy.
"The Committee anticipates, based on its current assessment, that it likely will be appropriate to maintain the 0 to 1/4 percent target range for the federal funds rate for a considerable time following the end of its asset purchase program this month, especially if projected inflation continues to run below the Committee's 2 percent longer-run goal, and provided that longer-term inflation expectations remain well anchored," the statement said, in language that closely reflected pronouncements at previous meetings.
The QE program had swelled the Fed's balance sheet past the $4.5 trillion mark.
Markets reacted negatively to the announcement, pushing interest rates higher and adding to an already slightly down day on the stock market.
In recent months the Fed has equivocated as to what it would take to raise rates. Initially, the FOMC had set 6.5 percent unemployment and 2.5 percent inflation as benchmarks.
But unemployment has slid to 5.9 percent while inflation, as reflected through the Fed's favorite measure, remains well below 2 percent.
In response, Fed officials have said the decision on rates would be "data dependent," though they haven't been specific about which data and what levels would generate a change in policy.
"The Committee currently anticipates that, even after employment and inflation are near mandate-consistent levels, economic conditions may, for some time, warrant keeping the target federal funds rate below levels the Committee views as normal in the longer run," the FOMC said said in language that, again, mirrored past statements.
