Donald Trump is still weeks away from taking the oath of office, but the president-elect’s vow to enact a sweeping policy overhaul is already looming large over the Federal Reserve.
The Fed trimmed interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday in its third consecutive reduction, but officials’ projections for half as many rate cuts next year as they had forecast in September triggered big market swings.
Fed chair Jay Powell said that while the more cautious outlook for rate cuts was prompted by signs that progress on getting inflation down to the central bank’s 2 per cent target had stalled, some officials had also begun to include assumptions about Trump’s policies in their forecasts.