On Wednesday, Sept. 26, the Federal Reserve issues... (Associated Press) FILE- In this July 17, 2018, file photo Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell testifies before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on "The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting (all times local): 
 
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 2:05 p.m. 
 
 Federal Reserve policymakers expect to hike rates one more time this year, three times next year and only once in 2020, the same as they forecast in June, according to projections released Wednesday after a two-day meeting. The Fed’s latest projections show the economy continuing at a steady pace through 2019, with gross domestic product growth seen at 2.5 percent next year before slowing to 2.0 percent in 2020 and to 1.8 percent in 2021, as the impact of recent tax cuts and government spending fade. Last month, Trump expressed his displeasure about rising rates and said the Fed should do more to boost the economy. In a statement that marked the end of the era of “accommodative” monetary policy, Fed policymakers lifted the benchmark overnight lending rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a range of 2.00 percent to 2.25 percent. The Fed sees the economy growing at a faster-than-expected 3.1 percent this year and continuing to expand moderately for at least three more years, amid sustained low unemployment and stable inflation near its 2 percent target. In their statement announcing the decision, Fed officials removed a sentence in prior statements that said its interest rate policy was supporting a strong job market and a return to 2 percent inflation. The U.S. central bank still foresees another rate hike in December, three more next year, and one increase in 2020. U.S. stocks initially extended gains but fell later in the trading session, with bank and financial stocks getting hit hard. The U.S. Treasury yield curve flattened and the U.S. dollar .DXY briefly weakened against a basket of currencies. Wednesday’s rate hike was the third this year and the seventh in the last eight quarters.
– Federal Reserve officials voted Wednesday to raise a key, short term interest rate for the third time this year, the AP reports. Investors largely expected an increase in the federal funds rate—the interest that banks charge each other—based off public statements by Fed officials. The benchmark overnight lending rate was increased by a quarter of a percentage point, to a range of 2% to 2.25%, Reuters reports. That's up from a level of near-zero between the end of 2008 and late 2015. The higher range points to an improving US economy with inflation staying near the Fed's target of 2%. The vote to raise rates was 9 to 0. In their statement announcing the decision and marking the end of the "accommodative" monetary policy era, Fed officials removed a sentence in prior statements that said its interest rate policy was supporting a strong job market and a return to 2% inflation. By eliminating that statement, they're suggesting that those goals are now within reach and that rate hikes will likely continue, per the AP. Federal Reserve policymakers expect to hike rates one more time this year, three times next year, and only once in 2020, the same as they forecast in June. That would put the rate at 3.4% by 2020, about half a percentage point above the estimated "neutral" rate at which interest rates don't restrict or stimulate the economy.