As expected, the Federal Reserve held its policy rate range steady at the January meeting, and the statement changed only modestly from December. In his press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) still expects the U.S. economy to expand at a moderate pace, and reiterated the FOMC's prior guidance that rates will remain on hold. More importantly, in light of still below-target inflation, he also emphasized the asymmetric nature of the inflation target and alluded that the FOMC would tolerate a period of above-target inflation if it were