WSJ Prime Rate Remains At Four (4) Percent! 2004 Will Be A Year To Remember, No Doubt!

Yesterday, The Fed announced that they're not going to rock the boat by messing with interest rates, so the Federal Funds Rate is still at a very economy-stimulating one (1) percent, while The Wall Street Journal Prime Rate continues to bring much joy and happiness to borrowers and spenders by staying put at 4%. All of a sudden, the approach of summer feels somehow sweeter this year! Must be that oh so heavenly smell of cheap money in the air! Yup.

Here's a snippet from the press release put out by The Fed* :

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to keep its target for the federal funds rate at 1 percent.

The Committee continues to believe that an accommodative stance of monetary policy, coupled with robust underlying growth in productivity, is providing important ongoing support to economic activity. The evidence accumulated over the intermeeting period indicates that output is continuing to expand at a solid rate and hiring appears to have picked up. Although incoming inflation data have moved somewhat higher, long-term inflation expectations appear to have remained well contained.

The Committee perceives the upside and downside risks to the attainment of sustainable growth for the next few quarters are roughly equal. Similarly, the risks to the goal of price stability have moved into balance. At this juncture, with inflation low and resource use slack, the Committee believes that policy accommodation can be removed at a pace that is likely to be measured.