The broadly welcomed announcement compounded the upbeat mood on trading floors in Asia fuelled by this week's pledges of fresh stimulus to boost Chinese growth.
"So we intend, again, to keep policy restrictive until we're confident that inflation is coming down sustainably toward our two percent target -- and we're prepared to further tighten if that is appropriate."In its official statement, the Fed said it would "continue to assess additional information and its implications for monetary policy", looking at a range of data points.
"The staff now has a noticeable slowdown in growth starting later this year in the forecast, but given the resilience of the economy recently, they are no longer forecasting a recession," he added. "Given this, there would have been little benefit for the Fed conveying anything other than a hawkish lean and commitment to getting inflation back to target in their commentary," he added.