Fed’s statement signals potential rate increase

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that near-term risks to the U.S. economy have diminished, reviving the prospect that it will resume raising interest rates as soon as September.

The Fed noted that the U.S. job market has rebounded, with robust hiring in June after a deep slump in May.

At the same time, the Fed said in a statement after its latest policy meeting that it plans to closely monitor global economic threats and financial developments to ensure that they don’t slow the economy.

The Fed seemed to be referring in particular to Britain’s vote last month to leave the European Union — a move that poses risks to the rest of Europe and to the global economy.

The central bank gave no specific timetable for when it might resume the rate hikes it began in December, but some analysts who had doubted that the Fed would be ready to raise rates as soon as September said Wednesday’s statement appeared to revive that possibility.

Analysts said the next important signal of the Fed’s thinking could come when Chair Janet Yellen speaks at an annual central bank conference in late August in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.