The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that the U.S. Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday after having raised it 10 straight times. An Associated Press dispatch to The Globe reports that the Fed signalled that it may raise rates twice more this year, beginning as soon as next month. The Fed's move to leave its benchmark rate at about 5.1 per cent, its highest level in 16 years, suggests that it believes the much higher borrowing rates it has engineered have made some progress in taming inflation. Top Fed officials, however, want to take time to more fully assess how their rate hikes have affected inflation and the economy. The Fed's 18 policy makers envision raising their key rate by an additional half-point this year, to about 5.6 per cent, according to economic forecasts they issued Wednesday. Bloomberg says the economic projections revealed a more hawkish Fed than many analysts had expected. The Fed made clear that it still regards the still-robust job market and the wage growth that has accompanied it as contributing to high inflation. The Fed's aggressive streak of rate hikes have been intended to slow spending and defeat the worst bout of inflation in four decades.