The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, May 2, edition that the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it will not cut interest rates until it has "greater confidence" price increases are slowing sustainably to its 2-per-cent target. An Associated Press dispatch to The Globe reports that the Fed kept its key rate at a two-decade high of 5.3 per cent. Several hotter-than-expected reports on prices and economic growth have undercut the Fed's belief inflation was steadily easing. The combination of high interest rates and persistent inflation has also emerged as a threat to President Joe Biden's re-election bid. On Wednesday the Fed announced that it would slow the pace at which it is unwinding its purchase of several trillion dollars in Treasury securities and mortgage-backed bonds, an effort to stabilize financial markets and keep longer-term rates low. The Fed is now allowing $95-billion (U.S.) of those securities to mature each month, without replacing them. Its holdings have fallen to about $7.4-trillion (U.S.), down from $8.9-trillion (U.S.) in June, 2022, when it began reducing them. By cutting back its holdings, AP says the Fed could contribute to keeping longer-term rates higher than they would be otherwise.