By Yasin Ebrahim

Investing.com -- The Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady on Wednesday, and signaled that rates could likely remain higher for longer than previously expected amid a lack of progress on slowing inflation.

The Federal Open Market Committee, the FOMC, kept its benchmark ratein a range of 5.25% to 5.5%.

The Fed has kept rates in the current range for the sixth-straight session as it continues to assess incoming to economic data to gauge whether inflation is slowing enough to begin rate cuts.

Since the turn of the year, however, the inflation data have surprised to the upside, forcing investors to rein in their bets on rate cuts. Investors now only expected one rate cut this year, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool, well below the six or seven seen at the start of the year.

In recent months, there "has been a lack of further progress toward the Committee's 2 percent inflation objective," the Fed said in a statement. 

Earlier this month, Powell acknowledged that the recent upside surprises in the inflation data have dented the Fed’s confidence to begin rate cuts.

“The recent data have clearly not given us greater confidence, and instead indicate that it’s likely to take longer than expected to achieve that confidence,” Powell said to the Wilson Center’s Washington Forum on the Canadian Economy on Apr. 16. 

The pricing out of rate cuts, however, has led to jump in Treasury yields, and tighter financial conditions, which some believe could help curb price pressures.