NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday and its policymakers abandoned projections for further rate hikes this year as the U.S. central bank flagged an expected slowdown in the economy.U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell holds a news conference following the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting in Washington, U.S., March 20, 2019.

In a major shift in its perspective, the Fed also now expects to raise borrowing costs only once more through 2021, and no longer anticipates the need to guard against inflation with restrictive monetary policy.

Market reaction:

Stocks: The S&P 500 reversed losses to turn 0.3 percent higher. The Dow turned 0.1 percent higher. Bonds: The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield fell to 2.5405 percent and the 2-year yield fell to 2.4003 percent.

Forex: The dollar index reversed slight gains and was off 0.63 percent.

Source – Reuters