Afp, Washington

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The Federal Reserve on Tuesday opened its final policy meeting of 2019, with markets overwhelmingly expecting the central bank to leave interest rates untouched.

After cutting rates three times in the summer and fall, policymakers have said they are now pausing to watch how the world’s largest economy performs.

With robust job growth and steady consumer spending, central bankers believe the United States has proved “resilient” in the face of a slowing world economy and a trade war with China, both of which have helped send American manufacturing into decline.

The Fed is due to announce its latest decision, along with a new set of economic forecasts, at 1900 GMT on Wednesday, followed by a news conference by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell shortly afterward.

Job creation shot well past expectations last month, according to official data released Friday, wiping away fears that employers’ demand for labor has begun to fade.

“This just leaves the Fed very comfortably on the sidelines for 2020, or at least as we enter the new year,” Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, told AFP. Futures markets as of Tuesday predict the Fed will be on hold until September of next year.