The Federal Reserve Board has reduced its target lending rate by one-quarter of a point for the second time this year, with a third cut planned for December, Chairman Jerome Powell announced. +

The Consumer Confidence Index fell 5.4 points in June, led by a plummeting Expectations Index, which remains below the threshold said to “typically signal” an oncoming recession. +

Chairman Jerome Powell says the Federal Reserve will not reduce its target lending rate, holding at 4.25% to 4.5% as evolving economic and trade policies make future conditions difficult to predict. +

The Conference Board’s U.S. Consumer Confidence Index has fallen 7.2 points year-over-year to 92.9, weighed down by a 12-year low of 65.2 for the board’s Expectations Index. +

Citing low unemployment and “solid” market conditions, the Federal Reserve Board held firm to its 4.25% to 4.5% target lending rate, extending a pause that began in January following a series of quarter-point cuts. +

U.S. auto dealers sold 697 franchises in an all-time record of 438 transactions last year, according to Kerrigan Advisors’ year-end Blue Sky Report, a 10% increase from 2023. +

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the annual rate of inflation fell from 3% in January to 2.8% in February on a year-over-year basis, slightly below the forecasted rate of 2.9%.+

The Conference Board’s U.S. Consumer Confidence Index fell seven points to 98.3 in February, driven by an underwhelming short-term outlook for income, business and employment prospects. +

Few of the leading economists surveyed by Wolters Kluwer expect the Federal Reserve to announce an interest rate cut at its March meeting as inflation shows few signs of abating in 2025. +

TransUnion’s latest credit insights report forecasts gains in auto, home and unsecured personal loan originations tempered by concerns over changing federal policy and paused interest rate cuts. +