Continued trade tensions and Brexit are key risks facing the US economy and could undermine financial stability, the Federal Reserve cautioned Friday. "Potential downside risks to international financial stability include a downturn in global growth, political and policy uncertainty, an intensification of trade tensions and broadening stress in emerging market economies," the Fed said in its semi-annual report on monetary policy.

Those concerns caused the Fed to shift to wait-and-see mode after raising interest rates four times in 2018, after "volatility in financial markets and increased concerns about global growth made the appropriate extent and timing of future rate increases more uncertain than earlier." And the prospects that Britain will leave the European Union without an agreement could create "a wide range of economic and financial activities could be disrupted," despite preparations.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2019