FOMC removed the "accommodative" sentence and...>

FED: FOMC removed the "accommodative" sentence and made no other 

changes to the statement. As expected, they raised the fund rate to 

2.00% to 2.25% on 9-0 vote, with the dots still pointing to another hike 

for 2018. The see three more hikes in 2019 and another in 2020 before 

stopping. 

- The IOER was raised to 2.20%.

- The median expectation for rates at the end of 2019 was unch at 3.1% 

for 2019, unch at 3.4% for 2020, still at 3.4% for 2021 (implying no 

rate change that year), and ticked up to 3.0% for the longer run (mean 

2.883% vs 2.866%).

- The economic projections for 2018 suggest stronger GDP (3.1% vs 2.8%), 

but also higher unemployment rate (3.7% vs 3.6%).

- Estimates for 2019 show slightly stronger growth (2.5% vs 2.4%). No 

change to growth estimate for 2020 (still 2.0%), but a slowdown to 1.8% 

in 2021.