The US Federal Reserve kept the benchmark lending rate unchanged on Thursday, highlighting the continued strong performance of the economy but also pointing to a slowdown in business investment. The central bank repeated that it expects "further gradual increases" in the key interest rate as the economy continues to expand but the statement gave no clear signal on whether it will have to move more aggressively to head off inflation.
The policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee kept the federal funds rate at 2.0 percent - 2.25 percent.