Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady — but it was a split decision

00:00 Speaker A

Alright, let’s get to Jennifer Schonberger with that decision, Jen.

00:03 Jennifer Schonberger

No change. The Federal Reserve holding ready steady in the range of 3 and a half to 3 and 3/4 percent, but this was a split decision with three dissents.

00:15 Jennifer Schonberger

Lori Logan of the Dallas Fed along with Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammmock and Minneapolis Fed President Neil Kashkari all dissented, preferring to raise rates by a quarter percentage point.

00:26 Jennifer Schonberger

Other than that, the policy statement was identical. Officials reaffirmed that inflation remains elevated on account of higher energy prices due to the conflict in the Middle East. They said, quote, the committee will deliver price stability.

00:41 Jennifer Schonberger

Back to you.

00:42 Julie

Wait, Jen, Jen, when’s the last time we had an identical policy statement? Sorry to jump in here.

00:50 Jennifer Schonberger

Yeah, it’s been some time. You know, I was wondering whether they would rip it apart like they did last time and make it all fresh and new, but I guess this things are the status quo. It’ll be interesting to hear from worse the explanation for this decision.

01:13 Jennifer Schonberger

What was interesting to me though, Julie, was that this really matched up with the comments that we had heard from individual members of the Fed leading up to this meeting.

01:25 Jennifer Schonberger

Lori Logan gave a hawkish speech saying that she thinks rates should be modestly higher right now. She dissented. Beth Hammmock also basically making that point without saying, hey, I think we should hike.

01:35 Jennifer Schonberger

Neil Kashkari was a little bit of a surprise. He had said that he had penciled in a rate hike for this year, but I felt like he could go either way. So, I thought for sure two dissents.

01:46 Jennifer Schonberger

The fact that we saw three, let me tell you, it must have been a good family fight.