scaled back expectations for hikes in 2017 and over the longer run.

Policymakers see two rate hikes next year, down from their June median projection of three.

The Fed said that the labor market will “strengthen somewhat further,” adding the qualifier “somewhat further” to similar language from the July statement.

“Although the unemployment rate is little changed in recent months, job gains have been solid, on average,” the Fed said in its statement. “Household spending has been growing strongly but business fixed investment has remained soft.”

The target range for the benchmark federal funds rate remains at 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent, where it’s been since a quarter-point increase in December 2015 that ended seven years of near-zero rates.

The Fed repeated that it “continues to closely monitor inflation indicators and global economic and financial developments.”

The FOMC reiterated that borrowing costs will probably rise at an “only gradual” pace. Policymakers also reiterated that they expect inflation to rise to their 2 percent goal over the medium term.

Because November’s FOMC meeting comes within a week of the U.S. presidential election and isn’t followed by a news conference with Yellen, economists have viewed the Fed’s December meeting as a more likely candidate for an increase.

The latest decision could embolden Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to unleash additional attacks on Yellen. The billionaire businessman said last week that the Fed “is being totally controlled politically” and might stand pat on rates for the rest of year.

Yellen, a former economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, was appointed Fed chair by President Barack Obama and served as President Bill Clinton’s top economic adviser.

The decision comes as Fed officials become more convinced that the economy is experiencing a new normal.

Policymakers scaled back their median projection of the long-term interest rate to 2.9 percent from 3 percent in June. The estimate shows how high officials think rates can climb, so its downgrade suggests a shallower hiking cycle.

Fed officials also cut their median growth projection for 2016 to 1.8 percent from 2 percent, mirroring the drop in the longer-run forecast, based on median estimates. Inflation is projected at 1.3 percent in the fourth quarter, down from a forecast of 1.4 percent in June. Policymakers again projected that inflation will reach the 2 percent target in 2018.

Most economists in a Bloomberg survey had expected the committee to stay on hold, assigning just a 15 percent chance of a hike this month. Fed watchers saw a 54 percent probability that the Fed will raise rates at its December 13-14 meeting.

Nonfarm payrolls have climbed by 182,000 jobs on average so far this year, although the most recent report showed a cooling to 151,000 job gains along with moderating wage increases. Other figures have shown declines in August retail sales and industrial production, as well as drops in sentiment at service companies and manufacturers.

Inflation is still running below the Fed’s 2 percent goal. After picking up earlier in the year, annual gains in the headline personal consumption expenditures price index slowed to 0.8 percent in July. Core inflation, which excludes food and fuel costs, is firmer though still undershooting at 1.6 percent.

Meanwhile, inflation expectations have stayed relatively low. A gauge of market-based expectations watched by the Fed is projecting a pace of price gains of about 1.5 percent in the period five to 10 years out.

The Fed repeated on Wednesday that “market-based measures of inflation compensation remain low.”