They help to achieve a more efficient allocation of savings; they are invested by asset managers who have the incentive and the ability to invest across varied asset classes; and, with their very long investment horizons, pension funds can be used to finance long-term investment projects at competitive rates of return.
In December of last year and again this January, the Committee said that its current expectation – based on its assessment of a broad range of measures of labor market conditions, indicators of inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and readings on financial developments – is that it likely will be appropriate to maintain the current target range for the federal funds rate well past the time that the unemployment rate declines below 6-1/2 percent, especially if projected inflation continues to run below the 2 percent goal.