Minorities and women hold disproportionately larger amounts of debt, and therefore will be substantially impacted by a rise in interest rates.
The dollar index took a nosedive, but major stock indexes shot up in the wake of Fed Chair Janet Yellen's announcement.
The smart money is on a rate increase in light of recent economic data.
Friday's report for the first full month of the Trump presidency is the final piece of economic news the Federal Reserve needs to decide on a rate hike.
Yellen told the audience that the central bank predicted "the evolution of the economy to warrant further gradual increases in the target range for the federal funds rate."
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., asked the Federal Reserve chair how she planned to "deal with" Trump's upcoming central bank governor appointments.
When the Fed hiked interest rates in December, Chair Janet Yellen hinted at three increases in 2017. Now, experts aren't so sure.
Janet Yellen will offer the Senate a look at her expectations for the U.S. economy in what could be her final year as Federal Reserve chair.
Analysts long expected the Fed to wait for Donald Trump to implement his economic policies before raising the rate for the third time in the past decade.
A former Federal Reserve employee was placed on probation and fined for operating bitcoin mining software on a government server for more than two years.
The Fed is likely to hold off on raising its interest rate target at the end of its Wednesday meeting, but the opposite may be true for much of the rest of 2017.
"Economists are not certain about many things," Yellen said. "But we are quite certain that a college diploma or an advanced degree is a key to economic success."
Fed Chair Janet Yellen said Donald Trump's policies could cause the economy to overheat, but she vowed to stay involved.
A month and a half after the Fed delayed a rate hike, Chair Janet Yellen will announce whether the central bank thinks the economic climate warrants a hike.
At a 2 p.m. press conference Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is expected to signal that the economy is ready to be reined in.
The impact of the Federal Reserve's expected interest rate hike Wednesday on Americans' wallets will depend on their age, debt and savings.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard says there's no reason to make changes at the U.S. central bank.
In her testimony before Congress on Thursday, Yellen suggested the federal funds rate target may finally be ripe for an increase.
The federal funds rate, which is the interest rate at which banks lend to one another in the short term, tends to impact other interest rates across the U.S. economy, such as mortgage rates and bond coupon rates.
After delaying an interest rate hike in September, the Federal Reserve once again pushed off an increase in the federal funds rate following the close of its meeting on Wednesday.
The two-day meeting ended Wednesday, with policymakers expected to tee up a December increase.
In September, the Fed held off on raising its target for the federal funds rate, and on Nov. 2, it will likely avoid an increase once more.