The Federal Reserve said Wednesday it will pause its rate hikes, keeping its benchmark lending rate at a 22-year high, while signaling fewer rate cuts next year.

The move was widely expected, after the central bank signaled in recent weeks that it intended to wait for more data to understand how previous rate hikes are affecting the US economy.

Since March 2022, the Fed has lifted interest rates 11 times and held them steady twice, including September’s pause.

The Fed’s latest set of economic projections showed that more officials expect the Fed’s key lending rate to top out at a range of 5.63-5.87% this year, meaning there could likely be another rate hike by year’s end. Officials revised their expectation of economic growth this year much higher and their projection of the unemployment rate slightly lower.

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