They just raised interest rates another quarter point this morning to deal with inflation.
In addition, early data on the third quarter point to a further slowdown in economic activity.
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The Riksbank, Sweden's central bank , raised its key interest rate by a quarter point, to 3%.
Trimming a quarter point one way, or tacking a quarter point the other, is not in itself enough to steer America's huge economy.
The European Central Bank raised its policy rate by a quarter point in early July in order to send just such a message of intent to price-setters and wage-negotiators.
The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee raised short-term interest rates today by one-quarter point, to 5.25%, but indicated it was nearing an end to its two-year campaign to throttle inflation.
Then last week, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke hiked the federal funds rate a quarter point and wrapped it in a gauze of happy talk about inflation no longer being a threat.
The European Central Bank has raised interest rates a quarter point to 1.5pc to curb inflation and signalled more to come, despite faltering growth in southern Europe and acute stress in peripheral bond markets.
The Federal Reserve's decision on September 29th to lower its main short-term interest rate by a quarter point is simply an injection of Vitamin B-12, meant to give a healthy economy a bit more vigour.
But, as the governor said himself, when you consider the challenges facing the economy, it's pretty clear that a quarter point, one way or another, on interest rates is not really going to make a lot of difference.
After cutting the funds rate by a half-point on Sept. 11 and a quarter-point on Oct. 31, the central bank indicated that those two reductions might be all that were needed to combat the threat of a recession given that financial markets appeared to be stabilizing.
This week's half-point cut went down badly with share investors, because they wanted a three-quarter-point cut and interpreted Mr Greenspan's more modest offering as a signal that he will do only what the economy requires, not what the stockmarket craves.
Most economists expect a quarter-point rise to 5.75% next week, with further increases to come.
That tax difference is worth as much as another quarter-point (in a taxable account).
Since last June the Fed has raised interest rates, in quarter-point steps, from 4.75% to 6%.
The American economy is still going like a train, despite three quarter-point rate rises last year.
The base rate in Poland stands at 6.00% and was last raised a quarter percentage point in May.
And the Treasury estimates that the economic growth rate has been boosted by a quarter-point because of immigration.
Two of its nine members already voted for a quarter-point cut in March.
It now stands at 5.25% after 17 quarter-point increases at the Fed's policy meetings, which occur at six-week intervals.
The bank cut its lending rate by a quarter percentage point on Jan. 29--the first reduction since April 2012.
Making it worse: Financial markets had widely anticipated the quarter-point cut, taking away much of its impact on juicing stocks.
Before this week's liquidity actions, financial markets expected another three-quarter-point cut at the Fed's next rate-setting meeting on March 18th.
In recent months, the Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates in quarter-point increments, most recently to 3.25% (see chart above).
In March, the central bank cut its lending rate by a quarter percentage point, which was its second rate reduction in 2013.
The ECB left rates on hold, some were expecting a quarter-point cut.
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But a decision by the Federal Reserve to make a quarter-point cut, say, would do little to help Russia, Brazil or Thailand.
Until the turmoil, a quarter-point rise in late August had looked assured.
Enough inflation apparently lurks in the American economy for traders to expect another quarter-point rise when the Fed's rate-setters meet on August 8th.
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Since the quarter-point rise may not be sufficient to slow the economy enough to check inflation, interest rates may need to rise further.
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