Some economists are now contemplating what was previously unthinkable — and they are focused on the personal-consumption expenditures price index

If year-on-year total and core CPI consumer inflation rates accelerate, financial markets risk turbulence as investors’ 2025 interest rate cut expectations fall further.

Federal Reserve policymakers got fresh reasons to hold short-term borrowing costs steady after government data signaled renewed strength in the U.S. job market, with traders now betting the U.S. central bank will wait until June to cut interest rates again and end its rate-cutting cycle there.

Just before Joe Biden leaves the White House and Donald Trump returns, two prominent Republican members of the Federal Reserve Board are weighing in on how fast interest rates should come down. The two — Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller — say rates can come down in a measured way.