When the Fed cuts rates, it often leads to lower mortgage rates because borrowing costs drop overall. Unfortunately, though, mortgage rates have instead climbed higher since the F

A top policymaker at the US Federal Reserve says that he still supports reducing interest rates this year, despite elevated inflation and the prospect of widespread tariffs.

The U.S. job market again defied an anticipated slowdown, with firms adding more than a quarter of a million jobs in the last full month of Joe Biden's presidency and leaving Federal Reserve policymakers to puzzle over the need for more interest rate cuts in a strong economy.

But minutes from their December meeting suggest that the decision was a close call — and that there is no guarantee policymakers will lower rates again anytime soon. The minutes of the central bank’s Dec.

Friday’s unexpectedly big increase in December nonfarm payrolls led to a diminished market-based likelihood for any rate cut by the Federal Reserve until September, based on one method of calculating expectations — and one big bank sees the risks tilting toward a rate hike.

Minutes suggest that Fed policymakers were already returning to the data-dependent mindset in the face of the incoming Trump administration. Now investors can only wait and hope.

The US economy defied expectations in December, adding 256,000 nonfarm payroll jobs, surpassing economists forecast of 164,000 and Novembers revised 212,000 increase. The unemployment rate dipped to 4.