US FOMC Statement

The Federal Reserve’s policy rate range was cut by 25bps as widely expected. The duck-and-weave tone of most of the press conference basically made it clear that the FOMC is in some awkward limbo as it waits to see how other macroeconomic policies could change in the wake of the US election. Overall, however, I don’t think we learned much by way of nearer term perspectives today and the path to the December meeting remains data dependent with a significant bias toward another quarter point cut. A discussion around a handful of ...

The Federal Reserve System is the central bank of the United States. It performs five general functions to promote the effective operation of the U.S. economy and, more generally, the public interest.

The Federal Reserve on Thursday is expected to cut interest rates for the second time this year, with the decision coming less than two months after its surprise jumbo cut in September. The Fed is expected to shave borrowing costs by 0.25 percentage points, or half the size of its September reduction, according to forecasts from economists polled by FactSet. That would bring the federal funds rate — the interest rate banks charge each other for borrowing money — down to a range of 4.5% to 4.75% from its current 4.75% to 5% level. ...

The Federal Reserve likely will stick to the business at hand when it wraps up its meeting Thursday with another interest rate cut, but will have its eye on the future against a backdrop that suddenly has gotten a lot more complicated. Financial markets are pricing in a near-certainty that the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee will lower its benchmark borrowing cost by a quarter percentage point as it seeks to “recalibrate” policy for an economy that is seeing the inflation rate moderate and the labor market soften. The ...

The Federal Reserve is almost certain to deliver its second rate cut of this easing cycle on Thursday, with the size of the reduction no longer in question following a string of upbeat economic indicators out of the US. A 25-basis-point cut is more than 98% priced, as investors have shifted their expectations away from large 50-bps reductions to the possibility of a pause at one of the upcoming meetings. The receding expectations of aggressive easing have spurred a more than 4% rally in the US dollar, as measured by its index against ...

A dense fog clouding the US economy could soon clear. For months, US consumers and businesses have felt some degree of paralysis from the upcoming presidential election, putting off purchases and investments until the world knows who will move into the White House, according to surveys and comments from corporate executives. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump both offer economic agendas that broadly aim to improve affordability and strengthen the economy, but each have starkly different approaches — which ...

The Federal Reserve and many rich-world peers are widely expected to lower interest rates again in the coming week, right after a US presidential election that may not be decided yet. Central banks responsible for more than a third of the global economy will set borrowing costs in the wake of the vote, clinging to whatever certainties they can discern on the likely path of American policy for the next four years. With Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump neck-and-neck before Election Day on Nov. 5, monetary ...