Federal Reserve likely to pump vow trillions in emergency funding to brace economy

The U.S. central bank may also signal how long, and by what benchmark, it plans to leave interest rates near zero after the recovery begins from what many economists forecast will be the sharpest downturn in recorded U.S. history this quarter.

What no one is expecting from policymakers at this meeting is a detailed forecast for the economy, given the uncertainty around the impact of the virus before a treatment or a vaccine can be found.

“We are not expecting any discussion of the outlook, as it remains unknowable,” said Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan.

An increasing number of U.S. states are reopening their economies or at least setting out plans for easing stay-at-home restrictions, leading to fears there could be a resurgence of infections over the coming months and a headache for the Fed as it seeks to estimate the swiftness of the economic recovery.

The Fed’s rate-setting committee, which is meeting by videoconference, is scheduled to issue its policy statement at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT). Fed Chair Jerome Powell is due to hold a separate videoconference with journalists half an hour later.

The statement is likely to reflect a sharp downgrade in the Fed’s assessment of the job market, household spending, energy markets and the outlook for inflation since its last meeting in March, before most U.S. states had done much to curtail economic activity and put the brakes on the exploding outbreak.

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