FEDERAL RESERVE LIKELY TO KEEP RATE NEAR ZERO
The Federal Reserve meets this week amid an economy that has partially rebounded from the punishing COVID-19 recession more swiftly than expected as well as signs that damage from the crisis could linger for years. The central bank has no plans to raise its key short-term interest rate from near zero. Yet at a two-day meeting that began Tuesday, the Fed was to update its forecasts, providing a roadmap for the course the economy, labor market, inflation and interest rates could take over the next few years.