Inflation—the Fed’s primary bugbear for most of the past four years—has come a long way. The year-over-year increase in the personal-consumption expenditures price index, wh

CD rates typically follow the direction of the federal funds rate. Though unlike the last time the fed funds rate was 4.50%-4.75% in 2023, CD rates will go down, not up.

Most expect the Federal Open Market Committee to cut interest rates in 2025. The question of how much will be informed by economic data.

John Williams, who heads the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, expects the economy to grow by about 2.5% next year.

It remains uncertain how far interest rates can fall, though the initial reductions made by the U.S. central bank are a vote of confidence that inflation is returning to its 2% target, Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid said on Tuesday.

These are today's mortgage and refinance rates. Mortgage rates have been elevated this month, and whether they fall soon depends on what the Fed does.

"While now is the time to begin dialing back the restrictiveness of monetary policy, it remains to be seen how much further interest rates will decline or where they might eventually settle."

In September, its officials predicted that they would reduce their benchmark rate four times next year, on top of three rate cuts this year. Yet that outlook has swiftly changed. Several surprisingly strong economic reports,