It was more of the same from the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee this month: the targetfederal funds rate will remain between zero and 0.25%, and theFed's securities purchases will continue at the pace of $85 billionper month.

The FOMC also repeated its position that the fed funds rate willremain unchanged as long as the unemployment rate remains above6.5% and inflation projections remain below 2.5%.

The Fed also released Wednesday a collection of economicprojections compiled from its board members and bank presidents.Those projections anticipated the fed funds rate will likely remainat its current level through the end of 2014; however, all but onefed representative projected the rate will rise in 2015.

Three of the committee members projected the rate could rise to3% by the end of 2015. In the longer run, the committee projectedthe fed funds rate will rise to around 4%.

Consistent with its rate projections and unemployment policy,the committee anticipated that the unemployment rate will continue its slow decline, falling tojust above 7% by 2013 year-end and dropping to the target rate of6.5% by early 2015.

Voting against the monetary policy action was St. Louis FedPresident James Bullard, who according to the Fed release, believesthe committee should signal more strongly its willingness to defendits inflation goal in light of recent low inflation readings.

Kansas City Fed President Esther L. George also voted againstthe June policy, citing concern that the continued high level ofmonetary accommodation increased the risks of future economic andfinancial imbalances and, over time, could cause an increase inlong-term inflation expectations.