美语听力讲解:美联储决定维持利率不变

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Which of these U.S. agencies was established in 1913? U.S. Postal Service, Social Security Administration, Federal Reserve or Peace Corps. The Federal Reserve Act which established America's Central Bank was signed in 1913.
Federal Reserve had a meeting yesterday and decided to keep interest rates right where they are. Why does that matter? Interest rates can have ripple effects across the entire U.S. economy. The lower the rates are, the cheaper it is to borrow money. So let's say you go to buy a house. A lower interest rate on the loan means you're not having to pay back as much every month. It's the same for credit cards and for businesses planning to borrow money to buy new equipment or expand, lower interest rates can encourage them to do that. If the economy heats up too fast, so can inflation when prices go up and money buys less.

The Fed can raise interest rates to try to keep that from happening. There were a few reasons why it decided yesterday to keep rates as they are. The bank says there are signs the economy is strong and that's there's not much inflation so that's a good thing. But the Wuhan coronavirus, which has been detected in countries worldwide, could eventually impact the U.S. economy and tensions are still high between the U.S. and Iran. So as far as interest rates go, the Fed wants to stay the course for now.