The officials are set to reduce their benchmark rate, which affects many consumer and business loans, by a quarter-point to about 4.3% when their meeting ends Wednesday.
CHRISTOPHER RUGABERAmericans hoping for lower borrowing costs for homes, credit cards and cars may be disappointed after this week'smeeting. The Fed's policymakers are likely to signal fewer interest rate cuts next year than were previously expected.
"We're on the cusp of a transition to them not cutting every meeting," said David Wilcox, a former senior Fed official who is an economist with Bloomberg Economics and the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "They're going to slow the tempo of cuts." On Wednesday, the policymakers will also issue their quarterly projections for growth, inflation, unemployment and their benchmark interest rate over the next three years. In September, they had collectively envisioned that they'd cut rates four times next year. Economists now expect just two or three Fed rate cuts in 2025. Wall Street traders foresee even fewer: Just two cuts, according to futures prices.
Fed officials, including Powell, have said they still foresee inflation heading lower, however slowly, while their key rate is still high enough to restrain growth. As a result, reducing rates this week is more akin to letting up on a brake than stepping on an accelerator. "It seems easier to explain not cutting than to find themselves in a position where they would have to raise rates in this political environment," Sinclair said.
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