US Fed makes quarter point cut as Powell insists he would not quit

WASHINGTON – The US Federal Reserve shrugged off concerns about the economic impact of Donald Trump’s election victory and moved ahead with a quarter point cut on Thursday.
The Fed sits just a short walk from the White House, where Democratic President Joe Biden will in January hand back the keys to Trump following the Republican’s election win.
But as expected, policymakers did their best to ignore the political drama playing out up the road, voting unanimously to trim interest rates by 25 basis points to between 4.50 and 4.75 percent, according to a Fed statement.
“In the near term, the election will have no effects on our policy decisions,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters after the rate cut was announced, noting there was still uncertainty about what President-elect Trump’s actual economic agenda would be.
“We don’t guess, we don’t speculate, and we don’t assume,” he said.
Powell also insisted he would not resign if asked to leave early by the president-elect, adding that firing any of the other leaders among the Fed’s seven governors was “not permitted under the law.”
The US central bank’s rate decision should help ease the costs of mortgages and other loans — welcome news for consumers, who had widely cited the cost of living as a top concern ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
But the cost of borrowing will also depend on how financial markets think a Trump victory will impact the economy over the longer term, and where the Fed’s interest rates will need to settle to ensure inflation remains under control.
Powell “stayed clear of commenting on the election outcome,” Nationwide chief economist Kathy Bostjancic told AFP on Thursday. “But I do think as we get into 2025 they are going to have to consider that.”