The governors of the Federal Reserve have decided to maintain a target lending rate of 4.25% to 4.5% for a fifth consecutive meeting under mounting White House pressure. +

The Federal Reserve maintained its 4.25% to 4.5% target rate for a fourth consecutive meeting, but the board remains committed to making two quarter-point cuts or one half-point cut by year’s end. +

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. +

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%.+

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. +

The consumer price index rose for the fourth straight month in January, pushing inflation to a 3% year-over-year increase in the same month the Fed announced a pause to interest rate cuts. +

The Federal Reserve Board’s first meeting of 2025 ended with its target lending rate unchanged as the agency pursues its “dual mandate” to limit inflation and unemployment. +