The Federal Reserve will keep interest rates on hold this week despite significant uncertainty about the outlook for the US economy, said Paul Sanjery, analyst at Generali Investments. "The extreme uncertainty triggered by the first moves of the new US administration poses downside risks to employment and upside risks to inflation," said the senior economist. The US economy is still showing healthy domestic demand and persistent inflation, which should strengthen the Fed's data-driven approach, he said. "We believe this will allow the Fed to continue to pause rate cuts at its upcoming meeting on Wednesday, implying two rate cuts this year." (Kim Ten)