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The Federal Reserve held interbank lending rates steady on Wednesday at a range of 4.25 to 4.5 percent despite some signs that the economy may be heading for a slowdown. The decision to keep rates where they are was in line with market expectations. The CME FedWatch prediction algorithm based on futures contract prices registered Wednesday a 99 percent probability that the Fed would hold rates steady. The Fed has paused rate cuts for the second straight meeting since January. The central bank cut rates three times during the end of 2024 in response to weakening employment data and easing...

Repurposing government buildings

Inflation in the Federal Reserve’s preferred price gauge eased in January after making steady increases throughout the fall. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased by 0.3 percent in January, easing to a 2.5-percent annual increase from 2.6 percent in December. The moves were in line with economists’ expectations. “This is about the only inflation indicator this month where the Fed can find some refuge,” Olu Sonola, economist with Fitch Ratings, wrote in an analysis. Concerns about resurgent inflation have been mounting after prices in both the PCE and the broader consumer price index (CPI) increased between September and...

Most Americans don’t know that for much of U.S. history there was no federal income tax and there was no central bank. But now everyone assumes that we must have a federal income tax and a central bank in order to have a functioning society. Today, there are just a handful of nations that do not have an income tax, and more than 99 percent of the entire population of the globe lives in a country that has a central bank. Of course the two work hand in hand. A central bank creates a spiral of borrowing that is meant...

WASHINGTON — Tennessee Valley Authority CEO Jeff Lyash — the highest-paid federal employee with a compensation package of $10.5 million per year — abruptly announced Friday that he was retiring 11 days after the return to office of President Trump, who during his first term slammed Lyash’s “ridiculous” pay and vowed to fire him. “Sounds like Lyash got DOGE’d,” a senior administration official told The Post, referring to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative to rein in allegedly wasteful federal spending. A TVA rep denied that Lyash was departing either in response to or to get ahead of pressure...

Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged in their first policy decision of 2025. “Recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace. The unemployment rate has stabilized at a low level in recent months, and labor market conditions remain solid. Inflation remains somewhat elevated,” the Fed said Wednesday in a statement released at the conclusion of its two-day meeting. The Fed said that it views the risks of inflation and a softer labor market to be roughly balanced. Language from past statements noting progress on bringing inflation down was dropped from the official statement....

President Donald Trump said Thursday he would apply pressure for interest rates to fall, paving the way for a possible confrontation with the Federal Reserve as its first rate decision of the year approaches. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump told an assembly of global leaders that interest rates both in the US and internationally were too high and that he would call for an instant move toward lower rates. “I’ll demand that interest rates drop immediately,” he said. “And likewise, they should be dropping all over the world. Interest rates should follow us all over.” Trump...

A former Capitol rioter who publicly turned on President-elect Donald Trump after serving 60 days in federal prison has said she would “refuse” a pardon from the incoming president, who has previously promised to free nonviolent offenders who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Pamela Hemphill, a grandmother in her seventies who pleaded guilty to charges related to the riot, sounded off on social media about her thoughts on her prospective pardon. “I’m not going to be bullied by MAGA anymore, as those who went as far as calling my Probation Officer trying to get me in trouble backfired on...

Lawmakers can help to lower long-term interest rates by getting the country’s fiscal house in order and lowering our structural deficit.Both in his first term and since the November election, Donald Trump has pointed to a rising stock market as an endorsement of his policies. He would be wise to keep his eyes focused on another key economic indicator.As the Federal Reserve started a round of interest rate reductions, mortgage rates rose again over the past two months. Coming as those locked out of ultra-low rates during the Covid panic face serious obstacles to purchasing the home of their dreams,...

I just watched Dennis Quaid in “Reagan”. Excellent film. But it reminded me of how Reagan sank the Soviet Union: by outspending the Soviet Union on the arms race. It worked! The Soviet Union, hamstrung by grossly inefficent central planning, couldn’t keep up and collapsed under President George H.W.Bush. Fast forward to today. Starting with Barack Obama and Joe Biden in 2009, following the financial crisis in 2008. The Federal government ramped up Federal spending, and Federal debt. While The Federal Reserve, the hand maiden to the Federal government, ramped up M2 Money supply. “You never want a serious crisis...

Many of you may remember my reporting around "Operation Choke Point 2.0" from the spring of 2023; TLDR, Biden's financial regulators, namely the Fed, FDIC, and OCC, launched a crackdown on banks covering the crypto space. The first casualty was Silvergate Bank, which voluntarily liquidated. The standard reporting around Silvergate was that the bank lent to crypto depositors and those depositors were flighty; when rates rose, Silvergate suffered M2M losses on bond portfolios and ended up insolvent. Except that's not true. Silvergate weathered the storm, even though short sellers and members of Congress like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) encouraged a...

Appaloosa Management’s David Tepper said investors should believe the Federal Reserve when it says it will lower interest rates because the central bank has now to keep credibility. “You just read what these guys are saying,” Tepper said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Thursday. “Powell told you something... He told you some kind of recalibration. He has to follow through somewhat. I’m not that smart. I just read what they say and do they have conviction. They usually do what they say, especially when they have this level of conviction.” The Fed last week sliced half a percentage point off benchmark...

WASHINGTON (AP) — With its larger-than-usual half-point cut to its key interest rate last week, the Federal Reserve underscored its belief that it’s all but conquered inflation after three long years. The public at large? Not so much. Consumer surveys, including one released Friday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, show that most Americans remain unhappy with the economy, still bruised by an inflation rate that hit a four-decade high two years ago as the economy rebounded from the pandemic recession. Yet in the view of some economists, the shift toward steadily lower borrowing rates could eventually...

Michelle Bowman, who advocated for 25 basis points of rate cut, believes moving at measured pace will ensure bringing inflation down to 2%Michelle Bowman, a member of the US Federal Reserve Board of Governors, said Friday she views the central bank's jumbo interest rate cut as a "premature declaration of victory" on inflation. Bowman, who was the only member of the Federal Open Market Committee voting for a 25 basis points of rate cut instead of 50 basis points, said core inflation remains above 2.5%. "We have not yet achieved our inflation goal," she said in a statement. "I see...

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the US edged closer to 6% this week to its lowest level since early February 2023. The rate fell to 6.09% from 6.20% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 7.19%. The last time the average rate was this low was on Feb. 2, 2023. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their home loan to a lower rate, also eased this week. The average rate fell to 5.15% from 5.27% last week. A year ago, it averaged 6.54%, Freddie...

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell suggested migrants are helping drive rising unemployment during a press conference on Wednesday. Powell spoke to reporters after the Fed announced it would lower its federal funds rate by 0.50% following disappointing job growth in both July and August. Unemployment currently sits at 4.2% — up from 3.4% in April 2023 — in what Powell suggested was largely a product of migrants crossing into the United States. “There’s been quite an influx across the borders, and that is actually one of the things that’s allowed the unemployment rate to rise,” Powell told reporters at the...

“We concluded that this was the right thing for the economy and the people we serve,” the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, said, referring to the central bank’s decision to cut interest rates by half a point.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve on Wednesday enacted its first interest rate cut since the early days of the Covid pandemic, slicing half a percentage point off benchmark rates in an effort to head off a slowdown in the labor market. With both the jobs picture and inflation softening, the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee chose to lower its key overnight borrowing rate by a half percentage point, or 50 basis points, affirming market expectations that had recently shifted from an outlook for a cut half that size. Outside of the emergency rate cuts during Covid, the last time...

American consumers and homebuyers, business people and political leaders have been waiting for months for what the Federal Reserve is poised to announce this week: that it's cutting its key interest rate from a two-decade peak.It's likely to be just the first in a series of rate cuts that should make borrowing more affordable now that the Fed has deemed high inflation to be all but defeated.Continued at link...

For a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the average rate you’ll pay is 6.27% today, a decrease of -0.17% since one week ago. The average rate for a 15-year fixed mortgage is 5.53%, which is a decrease of -0.25% from the same time last week. For a closer look at mortgage predictions this week, see here. With inflation at its lowest level since spring 2021 and a weakening labor market, the Federal Reserve is set to make its first interest rate cut in September, which should help mortgage rates fall in the coming months. Generally speaking, bad news for the economy means...