Federal Reserve keeps up inflation fight, betting bank crisis is over

The Federal Reserve is sticking with its fight against inflation, confident that a massive government intervention to stabilize the banking system has averted a crisis.

The central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point Wednesday, signaling that high inflation continues to pose a threat to the economy, as the job market and price increases aren’t returning to normal as quickly as policymakers expected. Officials believe the bank turmoil should slow the economy down, too, in the same way that raising interest rates does, though it’s too soon to say how much.