Federal Reserve still foresees 3 rate cuts this year but envisions fewer cuts in future
“The risks are really two-sided here,” Powell said. “We’re in a situation where if we ease too much or too soon, we could see inflation come back. And if we ease too late, we could see unnecessary harm to employment.” Rate cuts would, over time, lead to lower costs for home and auto loans, credit card borrowing and business loans. They might also aid President Joe Biden’s re-election bid, which is facing widespread public unhappiness over higher prices and could benefit from an economic jolt stemming from lower borrowing rates. Stock market averages turned higher after the Fed maintained its projection of three rate cuts this year. Traders had feared the Fed might downgrade the number of expected rate cuts for 2024. For 2025, though, the policymakers now foresee only three rate cuts, down from four in their December projections. And they expect “core” inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, to still be 2.6% by the end of 2024, up from their previous projection of 2.4%. In January, core inflation was 2.8%, according to the …