Whoever thinks it is easy to be boring and predictable never walked a mile in US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell’s shoes. As expected, the Fed closed out its latest two-day policy meeting on Wednesday having kept its benchmark interest rate near zero and without making changes to its bond-buying programme designed to keep long-term interest rates low. In another unsurprising move, policymakers acknowledged – without being too effusive – that the United States economy is on the mend. “The sectors most adversely affected by the pandemic remain weak but have shown improvement,” the Fed said its post-meeting statement. The restraint is indicative of the tough balancing act Fed officials have to pull off in the coming months.