Free Republic

The Federal Reserve delivered an unexpected blow to hopes for lower borrowing costs in the future, projecting higher inflation and higher interest rates in updated forecasts released Wednesday. While policymakers left their benchmark rate unchanged and signaled that they may cut in the second half of this year, forecasts of officials showed they expect fewer cuts next year and the year after that. The central bank held the federal funds target at 4.25 to 4.50 percent, its level since the December rate cut. But the accompanying economic projections revealed rising concern that inflation is not receding fast enough—and that rates...

Sarcasm and Silliness from a Windy City Cop Wednesday, June 18, 2025 What's This? Crime is down? Nationally? Murder rates are plummeting. While we still have more than half a year to go, Kash Patel, the FBI’s director, says that the U.S. is on track to have the lowest murder rate ever. The current record low occurred in 2014 when the FBI reported a murder rate of 4.45 per 100,000. The question is: why? Law enforcement matters, but it is probably also that Trump is deporting criminal illegal aliens. According to Patel, “Let good cops be cops,” is the answer....

Republicans are trying to lock in Trump’s tax cuts and Democrats are resisting. We now know that DOGE is trying to end the wasteful spending in DC. But I would really like to see tax rates on the middle class fall. The wealth gap between the top 1% of taxpayers and the bottom 50% of taxpayers is enormous. And has gotten worse since 1990. Meanwhile. to fight off the temporary effects of the tariff war, Trump is urging Fed Chair Powell to cut rates. Powell will likely NOT cut rates. But what does “Lunatic Liz” Warren say about rate cuts??

President Donald Trump continued lambasting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell while demanding interest rate cuts on Thursday. Trump nominated Powell to serve as chair of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System during his first term in office, and then-President Joe Biden later nominated Powell for a second term. However, Trump has soured on Powell and wants him out of the job. In a fiery Truth Social post on Thursday morning, the president declared, "The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, ‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always...

There was an oft-repeated message in Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s press conference on Wednesday: Tariffs will raise consumer prices. The U.S. central bank raised its inflation forecast for 2025, as have many economists, due to the expected impact of a trade war initiated by the Trump administration. “A good part of it is coming from tariffs,” Powell said of the Fed’s elevated inflation estimate. “I do think with the arrival of the tariff inflation, further progress may be delayed,” Powell said. His statement comes at a time when pandemic-era inflation has gradually declined but hasn’t yet been fully tamed...

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...

LONDON, March 6 (Reuters) - World financial markets kept on a radical readjustment course on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump's shakeup of the transatlantic relationship spurred a seismic, half-a-trillion-euro shift in German defence and infrastructure spending. The European Central Bank cut its interest rates again, as expected, and said monetary policy was becoming less restrictive, which traders took to mean another cut in April might not be a given - giving the euro another boost. That would normally suck up traders' attention. But it was just one of a myriad factors in play, with a global bond market selloff...

U.S. Treasuries are now outperforming stocks since Donald Trump was elected President, and some strategists say there’s room for those gains to run. A Bloomberg gauge of U.S. sovereign debt has returned 2.1 per cent since the Nov. 5 vote, beating a gain of 1.6 per cent from the S&P 500 index including reinvested dividends. While long-end Treasuries declined on Tuesday after Trump imposed new 25 per cent trade tariffs on Canada and Mexico, the prospect of further Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts is seen giving bonds a further tailwind. Stocks meanwhile are being sold, as the outlook for global growth...

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....

The ABC, CBS and NBC evening news networks completely ignored new damning data that bookended Bidenomics as arguably the dumbest set of economic policies the U.S. experienced in its history. So much for all the media kerfuffle about how President Donald Trump was inheriting a Biden economy in tip-top shape. The Wall Street Journal reported January 16 that “Mortgage rates rose above 7% for the first time since mid-2024, an early setback for a housing market that is coming off two consecutive years of poor sales.” The data on the 30-year fixed mortgage, which was released January 16 by Freddie...

Here’s the California home insurance debacle made simple: No more bargains. Property owners are keenly aware of the state’s numerous risks to their property, most notably wildfires. But they might be surprised to learn that California home insurance policies are among the nation’s cheapest. How often do we say “low” regarding any Golden State housing cost? Such thriftiness translated to California essentially asking insurers to take a high-risk gamble with low rewards. Would you make this bet? Insurers knew it was a losing gamble, so they increased their odds of success by removing the highest-risk customers. That’s why so many...

The Pacific Palisades area ravaged by wildfires in Los Angeles is one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the U.S., home to Hollywood A-Listers and multimillion dollar mansions. And ahead of this week's disaster, its insurance costs were among the most affordable in the country, according to a Reuters analysis of insurance and real estate industry data. That may be about to change. The scale of losses anticipated in the wildfires now ringing Los Angeles, as well as regulatory changes enacted late last year, could spell an end to relatively cheap homeowners' insurance in areas like the Palisades that are...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank deeper into the history books on Wednesday, with the storied index on track for its 10th straight losing day following a disappointing rate outlook by the Federal Reserve. The Dow lost 624 points, or 1.4%, on track for its worst losing streak since an 11-day slide in 1974. The 30-stock average posted a nine-day losing streak on Tuesday, its longest since 1978. The S&P 500 lost 1.5% and the Nasdaq Composite shed 1.9%. The central bank reduced its overnight borrowing rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 4.25% to 4.5%, as...

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,...

During an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen responded to a question on if she thinks the Federal Reserve has rates that are too high by stating that the Fed’s members expect rates to be cut and “when you have an economy that’s growing at potential, that’s operating at full employment with inflation in the vicinity of the Fed’s target, that suggests that a more neutral stance of policy is appropriate.” CNBC Senior Economics Reporter Steve Liesman asked, “I know you think a lot about the Fed. But I also know you don’t talk a lot about...

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...

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates Wednesday by the biggest amount in 16 years. The 50 percentage points reduction will make borrowing money less expensive, taking some of the pressure off consumers' wallets. Today's cut brings benchmark borrowing costs down to between 4.75 percent and 5 percent.

If this isn’t election interference, I don’t know what is. The Fed today slashed interest rates by the biggest amount in 16 YEARS, a whopping 50 basis points from 5.50% to 5.00%. With the economy roaring along (thanks to Covid-related massive Federal spending), there was no good reason to slash rates. Other than to get Kamala (Hyena) Harris across the finish line. The Fed’s bloated balance sheet remains bloast at 7.115 TRILLION. The dots plot reveals more rate cuts to come. Or as the flea sang, Food Around The Corner.

“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...