Federal reserve now projects rate increases in 2023 The Federal Reserve left rates unchanged and said it would continue buying bonds as the economy continues to recover. The Federal Reserve will have to weigh signs of economic resurgence against the reality that millions of workers have yet to return to the labor market. Stefani Reynolds/The New York Times By Jeanna Smialek, New York Times Service June 16, 2021 | 7:21 PM Email Federal Reserve officials signaled Wednesday that they expected to raise interest rates from rock bottom sooner than they had previously forecast and that they were taking baby steps toward reducing their vast bond purchases — tweaks that, together, demonstrated their increasing confidence that the economy would rebound robustly from the pandemic.