The Federal Reserve’s decision last Thursday to keep interest rates unchanged caught many by surprise. That was against the backdrop of the hawkish stance of many members of the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC), which makes decisions on interest rates and money supply growth. In her press conference after the latest FOMC meeting, Fed chair Janet Yellen said interest rates could increase only if inflation rises from current levels of about zero percent to the Fed’s target rate of 2% and if unemployment rates are lower. She also cited “global economic and financial developments” restraining the Fed. For the most part, she referred to the slowdown in China and commodity price declines hurting Canada, the largest trading partner of the U.S. However, the Fed does not seem set to increase interest rates to target levels any time soon. Improvements in labor market conditions are weighed down by a fragile economic recovery that is marked by lingering high levels of consumer debt.…