The U.S. Federal Reserve has an explicit inflation target of 2%.
November 24, 2025
high
policy
Central banks commonly set inflation targets to guide monetary policy.
Lowering a central bank's policy interest rate can increase inflationary pressure because cheaper borrowing and stronger demand tend to raise prices.
November 24, 2025
high
economic_principle
Monetary policy looseing (rate cuts) is commonly associated with stronger aggregate demand and upward pressure on consumer prices.
The Federal Reserve's long-run inflation target is 2%.
November 20, 2025
high
policy
The Federal Reserve's stated inflation objective used to guide monetary policy.
Cuts to a central bank's benchmark interest rate tend to boost economic activity and asset prices but can increase inflationary pressures; the U.S. Federal Reserve targets a 2% inflation rate.
November 20, 2025
high
general
Summarizes general effects of monetary easing and the Fed's stated inflation goal.
Expectations of future interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve can contribute to higher equity prices as market participants price in easier monetary policy.
November 20, 2025
high
general
Mechanism by which anticipated monetary easing influences stock market valuations.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) receives its operating funds from the Federal Reserve.
November 19, 2025
high
financial/structural
Describes the CFPB's funding mechanism as tied to the Federal Reserve rather than (solely) annual appropriations.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is funded through funds provided by the Federal Reserve.
November 19, 2025
high
financial
Describes the statutory funding mechanism used to finance CFPB operations.
Signals of hesitancy by the Federal Reserve about cutting its benchmark interest rate can reduce investor expectations for future rate cuts and contribute to pullbacks in equity markets.
November 14, 2025
high
temporal
Central bank forward guidance and signaling influence market expectations and can affect stock prices.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) permits individual members to record dissenting votes on monetary policy decisions.
November 13, 2025
high
conceptual
Describes institutional voting practice within the Federal Reserve's policy committee.
A federal government shutdown can halt the release of economic data on unemployment, inflation, and retail spending that the Federal Reserve uses to monitor the U.S. economy.
November 12, 2025
high
process
Operational effect of a government shutdown on official economic data flows relied upon by monetary policymakers.
The Federal Reserve does not directly set mortgage interest rates, and reductions in the Fed's short-term policy rate do not necessarily cause mortgage rates to decline.
November 06, 2025
high
policy
Clarifies the relationship between central-bank policy rates and consumer mortgage rates.
The Federal Reserve sets its policy rate primarily to pursue two goals: price stability (commonly operationalized as a 2% inflation target) and maximum employment.
October 31, 2025
high
policy_goal
These dual objectives guide decisions on raising or lowering the benchmark interest rate.
Mortgage interest rates do not always move in lockstep with the Federal Reserve's policy rate and often reflect market expectations about future changes in monetary policy.
October 31, 2025
high
process
Longer-term interest rates incorporate expectations and risk premia, so they can move independently of the Fed's short-term target rate.
When the Federal Reserve buys a Treasury security, it pays with newly created money that is deposited into the reserve accounts that commercial banks hold at the Federal Reserve.
October 29, 2025
high
process
Describes the mechanics of open-market purchases and their effect on bank reserves.
Quantitative tightening is a Federal Reserve program that reduces the central bank's balance sheet by allowing securities to roll off, and that program began in 2022.
October 29, 2025
high
temporal
Describes the Federal Reserve's balance-sheet reduction policy and its start year.
The Federal Reserve can reinvest principal payments from its holdings into Treasury bills instead of allowing those assets to roll off its balance sheet.
October 29, 2025
high
policy
Describes an operational tool the Fed can use to manage the size and composition of its balance sheet.
Experience as a regional Federal Reserve Bank vice president or other long-standing Federal Reserve roles provides institutional knowledge about how the Federal Reserve system operates and about potential avenues for institutional reform.
October 27, 2025
high
conceptual
Explains why professional backgrounds within the Federal Reserve system are relevant to perceptions of a candidate's ability to manage or reform the institution.
Mortgage interest rates are generally influenced by Federal Reserve interest-rate policy decisions, bond market investors' expectations for the economy and inflation, and they generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.
October 23, 2025
high
explanatory
Describes durable factors and mechanisms that typically affect mortgage-rate movements.
The Federal Reserve has a dual mandate from the U.S. Congress to promote maximum employment and stable prices.
October 14, 2025
high
temporal
U.S. central bank statutory objectives used to guide policy decisions.
The Federal Reserve can reduce its securities holdings by allowing Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities to mature without reinvesting proceeds, a form of balance-sheet reduction commonly called quantitative tightening.
October 14, 2025
high
temporal
Operational method central banks use to shrink their balance sheets over time.
The Federal Reserve considers Consumer Price Index data as one of the data inputs when making interest rate decisions.
October 10, 2025
high
practice
Role of CPI in informing monetary policy decisions by the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve maintains an inflation target of 2%.
October 08, 2025
high
policy
Official inflation target used to guide U.S. monetary policy
Interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve can gradually lower borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, and business loans, which tends to encourage more consumer spending and business hiring.
October 08, 2025
high
economic_mechanism
Typical transmission mechanism of conventional monetary policy
The Federal Reserve relies on regular economic data releases such as the monthly jobs report and inflation report to inform its monetary policy decisions, and disruptions to those data releases can impede policy decision-making.
October 08, 2025
high
data_dependency
Monetary policymakers use incoming economic data to assess labor market and inflation conditions
Federal Reserve policymakers often differ in emphasis when setting interest-rate policy, with some prioritizing the risk of rising unemployment and others prioritizing the risk of persistent inflation above the 2% target.
October 08, 2025
high
governance
Divergent policy preferences among central bank officials influence the timing and size of rate changes
The U.S. Federal Reserve's statutory dual mandate directs it to pursue price stability (low and stable inflation) and maximum (full) employment.
October 07, 2025
high
conceptual
Guiding objectives that frame Federal Reserve monetary policy decisions.
Variable-rate home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) track short-term benchmark rates such as the prime rate, and those benchmarks often move with the Federal Reserve's federal funds rate, so a Federal Reserve rate cut can quickly lower monthly payments on variable-rate HELOCs.
October 01, 2025
high
temporal
Describes the typical linkage between HELOC pricing and short-term benchmark rates influenced by Federal Reserve policy.
Home equity lending rates are influenced by Federal Reserve policy, inflation data, bond yields, overall demand for credit, national unemployment statistics, and local housing market conditions.
October 01, 2025
high
temporal
Enumerates common macroeconomic and local factors that shape home equity interest rates.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in 2025 that spending to build data centers is not especially interest-rate sensitive and is based on longer-run assessments that such investment will drive higher productivity.
September 29, 2025
high
temporal
Economic assessment of data-center capital expenditures and their sensitivity to interest rates.
A 2025 National Association for Business Economics (NABE) survey of 40 economists projected U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 1.8% in 2025 and 1.7% in 2026.
September 25, 2025
high
temporal
Forecasts of U.S. GDP growth from a 2025 NABE survey.
The Federal Reserve's minutes from its September 16â17, 2025 policy meeting reported that a few participants favored keeping the federal funds rate unchanged at that meeting while almost all participants supported a subsequent rate cut.
September 16, 2025
high
temporal
Summarizes participants' voting preferences and division of views reported in the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes.
The Federal Reserve's 2025 meeting minutes indicated that most participants judged it likely would be appropriate to implement further interest rate cuts over the remainder of 2025.
September 16, 2025
high
temporal
Officials' forward guidance on the potential path of interest rate policy.
The Federal Reserve's 2025 meeting minutes reported that some officials said progress toward the Committee's 2 percent inflation objective had stalled in 2025 and that this year's tariff increases had contributed to higher inflation readings and the risk of more persistent inflation expectations.
September 16, 2025
high
temporal
Officials' assessment of inflation dynamics and the influence of tariff increases on inflation readings and expectations.
The Federal Reserve's 2025 meeting minutes recorded that several participants viewed continued adoption of artificial intelligence as potentially reducing labor demand.
September 16, 2025
high
temporal
Officials' assessment of structural forces affecting the labor market.
Home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) typically have variable interest rates that track the Federal Reserve's benchmark interest rate.
January 01, 2025
high
process
Describes the common pricing mechanism for HELOCs used by lenders.
Fixed-rate home equity loans are typically influenced primarily by longer-term borrowing costs such as bond yields rather than the Federal Reserve's short-term benchmark rate.
January 01, 2025
high
process
Explains the factors that commonly determine fixed home equity loan pricing.
In 2025 U.S. annual inflation was about 3%, which was above the Federal Reserve's 2% target; U.S. inflation was 2.3% in April 2025 and peaked at 9.1% in 2022.
January 01, 2025
high
temporal
Comparison of recent inflation rates with the Federal Reserve's target and the 2022 peak.
Allowing Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities to mature without replacing them is a tool the Federal Reserve uses to shrink its balance sheet (quantitative tightening), and this runoff can be implemented as a monthly cap on maturities not reinvested.
October 14, 2024
high
temporal
Description of a balance-sheet reduction (quantitative tightening) technique used by central banks
Federal Reserve projections released in September 2024 showed the median Fed policymaker projected three interest rate cuts in 2025; 10 of 19 policymakers projected three or more cuts while nine projected fewer.
September 01, 2024
high
temporal
Summary of Federal Reserve participants' interest-rate projections (dot plot) released with FOMC projections.
Federal Reserve data reported that auto loan delinquency rates, defined as the portion of loan balances at least 30 days past due, were 3.8% in June 2024, the highest level since June 2010.
June 01, 2024
high
temporal
Official delinquency-rate measure for auto loans from the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve prohibits top officials and their close family members from buying and selling individual stocks and generally bans short-term trades by requiring that investment holdings be retained for at least one year.
January 01, 2024
high
temporal
Federal Reserve ethics and trading rules governing holdings and transaction timing for senior officials and their close family members.
The Federal Reserve maintains blackout periods during which top Fed officials are banned from trading ahead of Federal Reserve interest rate decisions.
January 01, 2024
high
temporal
Temporary pre-decision windows intended to prevent trading based on nonpublic information about upcoming policy actions.
The Federal Reserve's ethics office can refer disclosure or trading matters to an independent external watchdog for further investigation.
January 01, 2024
high
temporal
Oversight process for potential ethics or disclosure violations by Federal Reserve officials.
The Federal Reserve enacted a total of 11 interest-rate increases during 2022 and 2023.
December 31, 2023
high
temporal
Cumulative count of federal funds rate hikes implemented by the Federal Reserve across the years 2022 and 2023.
Federal Reserve data showed that the average monthly auto loan payment increased by about $130 from January 2020 to January 2023, reaching approximately $600 in January 2023.
January 01, 2023
high
temporal
Trend in average monthly auto loan payments over a three-year period.
From 2020 through 2022, the Federal Reserve purchased nearly $5 trillion of U.S. Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities to stabilize financial markets during the COVID-19 pandemic and to help keep longer-term interest rates low.
December 31, 2022
high
statistical
Quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve during the pandemic period.
The Federal Reserve's securities holdings grew to about $9 trillion following its 2020â2022 asset purchases.
December 31, 2022
high
statistical
Aggregate size of the Fed's balance sheet after pandemic-era asset purchases.
The Federal Reserve purchased longer-term Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities in 2020 and 2021 with the stated objective of lowering longer-term interest rates and supporting the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
December 31, 2021
high
temporal
Historical U.S. Federal Reserve asset purchase program during the pandemic
The Federal Reserve purchased longer-term Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities in 2020 and 2021 to lower longer-term interest rates and support the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
December 31, 2021
high
temporal
Pandemic-era large-scale asset purchases conducted as economic support measures.
The Federal Reserve ended its pandemic-era asset purchases in 2021 and subsequently raised policy interest rates to combat rising inflation.
December 31, 2021
high
temporal
Sequence of monetary policy normalization following the pandemic-support phase.
In 2021, the Federal Reserve tightened its trading rules to reduce the risk or perception that officials could financially benefit from inside information.
January 01, 2021
high
temporal
Rule changes implemented following earlier trading-related controversies involving Fed officials.
Since 2000, there have been three Federal Reserve meetings with dissents in opposite directions at the same meeting, with the most recent occurrence in 2019.
January 01, 2019
high
temporal
Historical frequency of formally recorded opposing dissents among Federal Reserve policymakers at a single meeting.
Regional Federal Reserve bank presidents rotate voting slots on the Federal Open Market Committee, so the collective voting influence of regional presidents varies from year to year.
January 01, 2000
high
temporal
Institutional rule governing FOMC composition and voting participation by regional reserve bank presidents.
Mortgage interest rates are influenced by multiple factors including inflation, employment conditions, and expectations about central bank (Federal Reserve) policy.
high
temporal
Macroeconomic data and monetary policy expectations shape mortgage rate movements.
Markets often price in anticipated Federal Reserve policy moves, so mortgage rates can change based on expectations of future Fed actions rather than on the Fed's actual policy changes.
high
temporal
Interest-rate markets incorporate forward-looking expectations, which can cause rates to move before policy changes occur.
High-yield savings accounts have variable interest rates that can adjust over time and often decline when the Federal Reserve lowers benchmark interest rates.
high
descriptive
Explains the relationship between variable deposit rates and central bank policy.
The Federal Reserve's official inflation target is 2 percent.
high
policy
Inflation-targeting objective used to guide U.S. monetary policy
The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index is a widely used gauge of inflation.
high
descriptive
PCE is an inflation measure produced by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and commonly used by economists and policymakers.
The U.S. Federal Reserve targets an annual inflation rate of 2 percent as its policy objective for price stability.
high
temporal
The Federal Reserve's stated long-run objective for inflation.
The Federal Reserve's statutory 'dual mandate' requires monetary policymakers to pursue both low inflation and low unemployment.
high
policy
Governs the Federal Reserve's objectives for U.S. monetary policy.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is the Federal Reserve panel responsible for setting U.S. monetary policy, including decisions on the target federal funds rate.
high
institutional
Identifies the FOMC as the decision-making body for interest-rate policy in the United States.
Regional Federal Reserve Banks were established to ensure that voices outside Washington, D.C., and New York have input into Federal Reserve policy decisions.
high
temporal
States the founding purpose of the regional Federal Reserve banks within the U.S. central banking system.
The CME FedWatch Tool is commonly used to quantify market-implied probabilities of Federal Reserve interest-rate changes.
high
general
Market participants use the CME FedWatch Tool to monitor the likelihood of future Fed policy moves as implied by futures prices.
The Federal Reserve's dual mandate requires monetary policymakers to keep both inflation and unemployment in check.
high
policy
Describes the statutory objectives guiding U.S. monetary policy.
The Federal Reserve is more likely to reduce its benchmark federal funds rate when officials judge that the labor market and broader economic growth are at risk of stalling.
high
policy
Describes a general conditional principle guiding decisions to ease monetary policy.