Fed holds rates in a 10-2 vote as two officials push for a rise

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept the target range at 3.75–4% after raising it in September. Governor Lisa Cook and Beth Hammack, president of the Cleveland Fed, dissented in favour of a rise of a quarter of a percentage point. The statement described growth as strong and said inflation remains elevated.

Kevin Warsh, chair of the Federal Reserve, said politics played no role in the decision ahead of the midterm elections, and declined to commit on December. He also said that from 2027 one of the FOMC’s eight meetings will be devoted to strategy, with no rate vote or statement, and that he expects two of the eight to be strategy meetings in 2028. On Polymarket, the implied probability of a December rise went to 82%, according to Closing Look.