Fed hikes rates 75 basis points, intensifying inflation fight

The Federal Reserve building is seen in Washington. Slammed by critics for not anticipating the fastest price gains in four decades and then for being too slow to respond to it, chairman Jerome Powell and colleagues on Wednesday intensified their effort to cool prices by lifting the target range for the federal funds rate to 1.5% to 1.75%.

Federal Reserve officials raised their main interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point – the biggest increase since 1994 – and signalled they will keep hiking aggressively this year, resorting to drastic measures to restrain the rampant inflation they failed to forecast.