By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.
The FOMC voted today to cut the Fed’s five policy rates by 25 basis points, with 1 participant dissenting, (Cleveland Fed president Beth Hammack who preferred no cut).
And participants see only two cuts in 2025, after economic growth, labor market growth, consumer income and spending, the acceleration of inflation, and big up-revisions of the data this fall have changed the scenario from that infamous soft landing to cruising at a fairly high altitude at an above average speed.
The FOMC also lowered by an additional 5 basis points the offering rate of its Overnight Reverse Repos (ON RRPs), which takes the offering rate to the bottom of the range of its rates (4.25%). The minutes of its last meeting disclosed discussions to that effect. We’ll mull this over in a separate article later, but briefly: