The Federal Reserve kept interest rates on hold for its third consecutive meeting, maintaining its benchmark rate at a range of between 4.25% and 4.5%. The risks from inflation and unemployment have risen, it said, amid uncertainty about the economic effects of Donald Trump’s tariffs, even though jobs figures for April also showed that the labour market was strong. Mr Trump is pressing Jerome Powell, the Fed’s chairman, to cut rates. Before the bank’s meeting the president said he would not sack Mr Powell, but did call him a “total stiff”.
