When the Federal Reserve concludes its policy meeting on Wednesday the message will be clear: the US central bank is now on hold following what was, by many measures, the most aggressive easing cycle in monetary policy history.

Policymakers hope they are done in terms of easing policy, though they will continue to implement and tweak existing programmes and will retain flexibility to respond to what remains a highly uncertain environment. The debate inside the Fed is over how long it should stay on hold before moving to raise rates.