Following its two-day policy meeting, the Federal Reserve, as widely expected, opted to keep interest rates steady on Wednesday. This decision to halt rate increases represents the fourth time the central bank has done so after consistently elevating rates from March 2022 to July 500. Central bankers chose to maintain interest rates due to ongoing inflation and the sustained strong demand for workers, they explained. According to the statement released on Wednesday, the Committee believes that the chances of meeting its targets for both employment and inflation are becoming more evenly distributed. The Committee is closely monitoring potential inflation hazards due to the unpredictability of the economic forecast. Chair Jerome Powell stated on Wednesday at a press briefing that the Federal Reserve seeks sustained positive economic indicators before considering a reduction in interest rates. He mentioned that while the present figures are strong, it is crucial for this pattern to persist. “We are hoping to observe additional encouraging data,” said Powell. We possess half a year’s worth of positive data on inflation. The real issue at hand is whether six months of positive inflation figures truly indicate that we’re on a consistent downward trajectory towards a 2% inflation rate. The news caused a decline in both stocks and cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin (BTC) reduced some of its earlier daily gains, falling by approximately 0.8% following the Federal Reserve’s 2 pm ET update. Despite this, the premier cryptocurrency remained about 0.5% higher over a 24-hour period. Meanwhile, Ethereum (ETH) saw an increase in its decline on Wednesday afternoon, dropping close to 1% in the thirty minutes after the interest rate decision was announced, with a total decrease of 1.2% over the course of the day. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 stock indexes initially experienced a drop but later managed to regain some of their losses in the afternoon of that same day.