The Fed Cuts Rates as Expected, but Hawkish 2025 Outlook Hits Crypto and U.S. Stocks Hard
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, announced the decision of the Dec. 17-18 meeting of its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) regarding interest rates.
According to the Fed’s FOMC Statement, although progress has been made on cutting inflation, it still remains higher than what they would like, which is “2 percent over the longer run” (they hope to get there by 2027). Anyway, to achieve their inflation target as well as meet their goal of maxium employment, the FOMC decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points (bps), thereby bringing it to 4-1/4 to 4-1/2 percent.
Although this move was widely anticipated by both the…
