Fed pauses but sees long fight vs inflation

WASHINGTON, D.C.: The US Federal Reserve (Fed) voted Wednesday to hold interest rates at a 22-year high while predicting that lending rates would need to remain higher for longer to definitively cool inflation.

"We are prepared to raise rates further, if appropriate, and we intend to hold policy at a restrictive level until we're confident that inflation is moving sustainably toward our objective," Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said in a press conference after the decision.