Alva Review-Courier -

The Federal Reserve has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged but signaled that it expects to resume raising rates gradually to reflect a healthy job market and economy.

At Janet Yellen's final meeting as chair Wednesday, the Fed kept its key short-term rate in a still-low range of 1.25 percent to 1.5 percent. It said in a statement that it expects inflation to finally pick up this year and to stabilize around the Fed's target level of 2 percent. In its previous statement, the Fed had predicted that inflation would remain below its target rate.

The Fed also indicated that it thinks the jo...