At the end of its two-day policy meeting , The Federal Reserve said that it would make its decision when to raise rates based solely on the incoming economic data and that it would take a meeting by meeting approach. But the data has not been looking good. U.S. first quarter GDP growth came in weaker than expected at 0.2 percent . The Fed’s statement also acknowledged that the rate of growth slowed in the first three months as did the labor market.

There was nothing significantly new in the statement, but the fed removed any specific references to calender dates when discussing the timing of a rate hike. So that makes things even murkier for the markets rates have been at near zero percent since the financial crisis in 2008, in order to help boost the U.S. economy. Many analysts are saying that earliest the fed may hike rates now would be September.

For more on the U.S. economy, CCTV America interviewed Joe Minarik. He’s the senior vice president and director of research at the Committee for Economic Development.

Joe Minarik from Committee for Economic Development on the US economy

At the end of its two-day policy meeting , The Federal Reserve said that it would make its decision when to raise rates based solely on the incoming economic data and that it would take a meeting by meeting approach. But the data has not been looking good. U.S. first quarter GDP growth came in weaker than expected at 0.2 percent . The Fed's statement also acknowledged that the rate of growth slowed in the first three months as did the labor market. For more on the U.S. economy, CCTV America interviewed Joe Minarik. He's the senior vice president and director of research at the Committee for Economic Development.