#FOMCWatch

The US Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions, which significantly affect stock, bond, and other financial market liquidity, are carefully watched by investors throughout the world

Since March, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his team have essentially stuck to their theme. They entered 2025 with the goal of lowering interest rates by 50 basis points both this year and the following year. The path forward has been obstructed by the Trump administration’s hasty implementation of a broad tariff system, which has halted policy activity and placed the Fed in a wait-and-see position.

Tariffs have historically boosted inflation and weighed against economic development and, consequently, job creation, according to the Fed.

The Fed believes it has the luxury of time to maintain rates as inflation is just slightly above 2% and the unemployment rate is low compared to historical norms at just around 4%.

Donald Trump has been ranting on social media for months, and he once threatened to fire Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve. He set Powell a handwritten note, “You continue to do things that have cost the United States a lot of money. You ought to drastically reduce the rate! In one of his less appealing monikers, “Too Late,” Trump wrote to Powell.