U.S. Federal Reserve
Are Rate Hikes Back on the Table?
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday assured members of Congress, who will face inflation-weary voters in a charged presidential election year, that upcoming decisions on when and how fast to cut interest rates would be based solely on economic data. "We're in a political year," House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, said as he opened a hearing with Powell by quizzing him on the central bank's rate cut plans and noting that everything the Fed does would be seen through the "lens" of the November presidential rematch between incumbent President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and former Republican President Donald Trump.