interest rate News Updates

The Fed’s decision came just six days before a midterm election that has focused heavily on concerns around the cost of living and affordability.

The quarter-point increase lifts the Fed’s key rate to about 3.9% and, over time, could result in higher borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.

A quarter-point increase in the Fed's rate, currently about 3.6%, isn't guaranteed because Fed Chair Kevin Warsh doesn't provide the signals about next moves that his predecessors did.

Kevin Warsh acknowledged that recent inflation reports show it has cooled a bit, but “they do not tell me that underlying trends have meaningfully improved.”

The record showed participants’ inflation outlooks were “highly uncertain” and the re-escalation of the Iran war “clouded the inflation outlook.”

The Fed’s rate-setting committee reached the 9-3 decision after two days of deliberations, marking the fifth straight meeting at which the benchmark rate was kept at around 3.6%.

In an unusually short statement after their two-day meeting, Fed officials dropped language that had suggested their next move would be to cut their key rate.

The Senate narrowly confirmed Kevin Warsh as chair of the Federal Reserve, setting up a controversial leadership transition at the U.S. central bank.

Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged but revealed a deepening division over the outlook for policy amid increased uncertainty.

The Federal Open Market Committee voted 11-1 to hold the benchmark federal funds rate in a range of 3.5% to 3.75%. Governor Stephen Miran dissented.