LIVE BUSINESS: Shell beats forecasts; The Federal Reserve maintains interest rates; Standard Chartered boosted by higher interest rates

Overnight, the U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates steady and signaled it was still leaning toward eventual reductions in borrowing costs, but raised a red flag about recent disappointing inflation readings that could make those rate cuts slow to arrive.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that after starting 2024 with three months of faster-than-expected price increases, “it will take longer than expected” for policymakers to feel comfortable that the Inflation will resume the decline towards the 2 percent that had encouraged it. much of last year.