The Federal Reserve releases a statement at the conclusion of each of its policy-setting meetings, outlining the central bank’s economic outlook and the actions it plans to take. Fed watchers closely parse changes between statements to see how the Fed’s views are evolving. This tool compares the latest statement with its immediate predecessor and highlights […]

WASHINGTON—Federal Reserve officials projected no plans to raise interest rates through 2023 and said they were committed to providing more support to an economy that faces an uneven recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

In new projections released Wednesday, all 17 officials said they expect to keep rates near zero at least through next year, and 13 projected rates would stay there through 2023.

The...

WASHINGTON—American incomes rose sharply and poverty fell in the final year of the country’s decadelong economic expansion, according to Census Bureau figures released Tuesday.

Median household income was $68,700 in 2019, up 6.8% from the prior year and the highest figure on record. The poverty rate was 10.5%, a drop of 1.3 percentage points from the year before. It was the fifth consecutive annual decline in poverty and put the poverty rate at its lowest level since 1959, the first year it was tracked.

Don’t fight the Fed…or the ECB, the BOJ, etc. Central banks have cast a spell over stocks this year, but their magic alone isn’t what keeps the rally going.

Despite the recent stumble of technology stocks, the S&P 500 is still above where it was on Feb. 19, when fears about Covid-19 shook investors. An oft-cited cause for this flash recovery is low interest rates: With inflation-protected Treasurys now yielding around a record-low minus 1.3%, the S&P 500’s earnings yield of above 4% looks irresistible. Tech firms with...

Good day. The Fed releases its policy statement at 2 p.m. ET, along with new economic projections, to be followed by Jerome Powell's press conference at 2:30 p.m. The statement could include tweaks to reflect the Fed's new inflation-targeting framework, but it isn’t clear if officials will agree this week on how or when to make their guidance more specific. Today may also shed light on the Fed's bond-buying plans and officials' view of the economic outlook. Meantime, Judy Shelton’s path to a seat on Fed’s board of governors appears to have hit a roadblock, with a top Senate Republican saying there aren't enough votes to confirm her.

 Now on to today’s news and analysis.

When Congress last pushed for comprehensive climate legislation a decade ago, much of corporate America was either neutral or hostile.

In a sign of how much corporate attitudes have changed, the Business Roundtable, one of the country’s most prominent business groups, is throwing its support behind broad-based measures to slash greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In a statement of principles released Wednesday, the Business Roundtable said it “supports a goal of reducing net U.S. GHG emissions by at least 80% from 2005 levels...

Retail spending rose 0.6% in August for the fourth straight monthly increase, but at a slower pace as some extra unemployment benefits ran out.

Retail spending has continued to recover from the economic shock created by the pandemic, surpassing prepandemic levels in July. “It’s going to be tough to make further gains because levels are already pretty robust,” Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities said, referring to retail sales.

Other parts of the economy are also digging back, though at different speeds. Industrial production increased in August for the fourth straight month, but remains well below levels seen before the pandemic. Employers have continued to add jobs across industries, but there are still 11.5 million fewer jobs than in February and the unemployment rate of 8.4% is well above the 3.5% level from before the pandemic.

Economists say government stimulus meant to offset the pandemic’s economic damage has helped...

China and the rich countries will suffer less economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic than previously feared, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, but the global public-health emergency will exact a higher toll on the economies of poor countries.

The Paris-based research body Wednesday said the global economy will contract less sharply this year than it thought likely in June, but warned that the recovery is set to slow from this month and remain vulnerable to fresh outbreaks. The...

Federal Reserve officials resume deliberations Wednesday about how to detail plans to support the economy now that they have formally adopted a strategy to keep interest rates lower for longer.

Officials’ public remarks before entering their traditional pre-meeting quiet period two weeks ago suggested they hadn’t yet decided how to reconfigure their policy statement to reflect the new framework. This raises the prospect they could make a few changes now and more extensive ones later this year.

The Federal Reserve named Trevor Reeve, a senior adviser to Chairman Jerome Powell, to the powerful role of director of its monetary affairs division on Monday.

Mr. Reeve has served as the division’s deputy director since 2017. Thomas Laubach, who served as the division’s director since 2015, died on Sept. 2 after being treated for cancer.

Mr. Reeve joined the Fed’s staff of economists in 1998 and was appointed to its official staff in 2006, serving in key roles in its division of international finance and, later, monetary affairs. He has a doctorate in economics from Harvard University.

The director of the monetary affairs division is a key participant in meetings of the central bank’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, tasked with preparing briefings, strategies and the heavily scrutinized policy statements delivered upon their conclusion.

In elevating to the post Mr. Reeve, the Fed is facilitating a smooth transition at a challenging...

Federal Reserve officials don’t like to wade into political debates, which is why it can be a distress signal when they do.

In normal times, central bankers generally avoid making specific recommendations on hot-button spending, tax and other policy matters handled by elected officials, because they want to preserve their autonomy to manage monetary policy with minimal interference.

These aren’t ordinary times. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has delicately but resolutely said in recent months he expects Congress will need to do more to compensate for income losses sustained by unemployed workers and revenue holes facing hard-hit businesses and city and state governments because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Some colleagues have been more outspoken. “Trouble is brewing with the expiration of these relief policies,” Chicago Fed President Charles Evans told reporters in early August after temporary federal unemployment benefits lapsed.

A month later,...

WASHINGTON—American incomes rose sharply and poverty fell in the final year of the country’s decadelong economic expansion, according to Census Bureau figures released Tuesday.

Median household income was $68,700 in 2019, up 6.8% from the prior year. The poverty rate was 10.5%, a drop of 1.3 percentage points from the year before.

The figures...

U.S. industrial production rose for the fourth consecutive month in August but at a much lower rate than earlier in the summer, a sign that the manufacturing recovery is slowing.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday said industrial production—a measure of output at factories, mines and utilities—rose a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in August from July, following a revised 3.5% rise in July. Despite several months of advances, output remains far below its level before the coronavirus pandemic hit in the spring.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a 1% increase in August.

Industrial production is still 7.3% down from its level in February, the last month before factories shut down across the country to control the spread of the coronavirus.

Manufacturing, the biggest component of production, rose 1%, a slower pace than in June and July.

WASHINGTON—The cost of servicing the nation’s growing debt load is shrinking despite a historic rise in government red ink this year, suggesting the U.S. still has room to borrow to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Demand for safe Treasury assets has kept interest rates near historic lows this year, pushing net interest costs down by 10% from October through August, the Treasury Department said Friday. “That’s despite a significant increase in the level of debt outstanding,” a senior Treasury official said on a call with reporters.

Good day. Fed officials are about to start their two-day meeting, where they are expected to wrestle with how to put meat on the bones of their new average inflation framework. The central bank yesterday named Trevor Reeve as director of its monetary affairs division. Mr. Reeve was involved in key decisions while serving as the division’s deputy director since 2017. And Chicago Fed leader Charles Evans, who helped shape the Fed's financial crisis-era interest-rate guidance, reckons that any new effort on this front will be trickier to pull off.

 Now on to today’s news and analysis.

Federal Reserve officials forged an agreement last month on a new framework governing how they will conduct policy over the long run. In preparing for a September meeting, they are debating how exactly to implement this strategy for an economy recovering from a severe and unusual downturn.

Central bank officials are likely at coming meetings to provide more specific guidance about what conditions would justify continued low interest rates, according to public speeches and interviews.

The Federal Reserve official who pioneered an idea that powered one of the most important phases of the central bank’s financial crisis-era interest rate guidance reckons that any new effort on this front will be trickier for the central bank to pull off.

Charles Evans, president of the Chicago Fed, weighed in on the issue in a conversation with reporters earlier this month. Mr. Evans is an influential voice at the central bank and is well known for what came to be called the “Evans Rule.”

The economy’s uneven recovery amid the coronavirus pandemic is helping lift consumer moods from weak levels, as inflation expectations tick higher.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Monday that its Survey of Consumer Expectations for August showed “a continued decline in pessimism about households’ financial situation.” The report added, “[I]n particular, home price growth expectations returned to levels close to a year ago, while delinquency expectations remain low.”

The Federal Reserve named Trevor Reeve, a senior adviser to Chairman Jerome Powell, to the powerful role of director of its monetary affairs division on Monday.

Mr. Reeve has served as the division’s deputy director since 2017. Thomas Laubach, who served as the division’s director since 2015, died on Sept. 2 after being treated for cancer.

Mr....

High school graduates entered the labor market this summer during a deep economic downturn, but while that presented a serious hurdle—especially for those not pursuing college—many of these young, flexible workers are finding jobs.

Teenage workers were among the hardest hit by the pandemic this spring because they are concentrated in fields that suffered the most from coronavirus-induced shutdowns and restrictions: low-wage, in-person service jobs in locations such as restaurants and retail stores. But since April, teen employment...

Federal Reserve officials don’t like to wade into political debates, which is why it can be a distress signal when they do.

In normal times, central bankers generally avoid making specific recommendations on hot-button spending, tax and other policy matters handled by elected officials, because they want to preserve their autonomy to manage monetary policy with minimal interference.

These...