Overview
- The Federal Reserve voted to keep its policy rate at 3.75%–4.00% in a 10-2 decision on Wednesday, Oct. 28, marking the central bank’s final meeting before the U.S. midterm elections.
- The post-meeting statement said “inflation remains elevated” and that the committee will wait for an “accumulation of more information,” and it upgraded its assessment of economic activity to “strong.”
- Two officials, Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, dissented and preferred a 25 basis-point hike, and Cook has been the focus of recent political attacks from President Donald Trump.
- Markets reacted modestly with stocks and bonds largely steady and Bitcoin trading near $80,000, while futures and probability tools pushed the odds of a quarter-point hike at the Dec. 8–9 meeting sharply higher.
- Officials singled to rising oil linked to the U.S.-Iran conflict as a major inflation driver, a dynamic that is lifting gasoline and shipping costs, pushing Treasury yields toward 5%, and complicating the Fed’s path back to its 2% goal.