Wall Street banks raise prime rates to match Fed’s hike

(Reuters) – U.S. banks JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc and Wells Fargo & Co said on Wednesday they had raised their prime lending rates by 75 basis points to 4.75%, effective Thursday, matching the Federal Reserve’s rate hike earlier in the day.

The Fed raised its target interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point, the most by the U.S. central bank since 1994, as it seeks to tame red-hot inflation. [FED/]

The central bank faces the task of charting a course for the economy to weather rate increases without a repeat of the 1970s-style predicament when the central bank’s interest hikes aimed at fighting inflation resulted in a steep recession.

Inflation, which has become a hot-button political issue, has worsened with the Ukraine war, hitting market sentiment and piling pressure on to an already battered supply chain.

However, since banks make money on the difference between what they earn from lending and payouts on deposits and other funds, they typically thrive in a high interest rate environment.

(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)