A new Benzinga reader poll asks whether the Federal Reserve made the right call by keeping interest rates steady Wednesday, or if further cuts were needed. What Happened: After cutting rates three straight times to end 2024, the Fed kept the federal funds rate steady in January at 4.25% to 4.5%. The decision to keep rates steady came after the...

01:12 PM EST, 01/31/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The Federal Reserve should take a cautious and gradual approach to adjusting monetary policy amid upside risks to inflation, Governor Michelle Bowman said Friday. On Wednesday, the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee decided to leave its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 4.25% to 4.50% following three straight cuts, saying that inflation remained...

(Reuters) - Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Austan Goolsbee said Friday's inflation data was a bit better than expected and helps give him comfort that inflation is on path to 2%, adding that he still expects the Fed's policy rate to be a fair bit lower in 12 to 18 months than it is today.  Still, he said, there is...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. inflation increased by the most in eight months in December amid robust consumer spending on goods and services, suggesting the Federal Reserve would probably be in no hurry to resume cutting interest rates soon. While the report from the Commerce Department on Friday showed a modest gain in prices excluding the volatile food and energy components...