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WASHINGTON — American consumers and home buyers, business people and political leaders have been waiting for months for what the Federal Reserve is poised to announce this week: That it's cutting its key interest rate from a two-decade peak. It's likely to be just the first in a series of rate cuts that should make borrowing more affordable now that the Fed deemed high inflation to be all but defeated. Consider Kelly Mardis, who owns Marcel Painting in Tempe, Arizona.
About a quarter of Mardis' business comes from real estate agents who are prepping homes for sale or from new home buyers. Customer queries, he recalls, quickly dropped almost as soon as the Fed started jacking up interest rates in March 2022 — and then kept raising rates through July 2023. As the housing market contracted, Mardis had to lay off about half his staff of 30.
It was the worst dry spell he experienced in 14 years. People are also reading..
. After the Fed begins cutting rates Wednesday, Mardis envisions brighter times ahead. Typically, a succession of Fed rate cuts leads over time to lower borrowing costs for things like mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and business loans.
"I'm 100% sure it would make a difference," Mardis said. "I'm looking forward to it." At the same time, plenty of uncertainty still surrounds this week's Fed meeting.
How much will the policymakers decide to reduce their benchmark rate, now at 5.3%? By a traditional quarter-point or by an unusually large half-point? Will they keep loosening credit at their subsequent meetings in November and December and into 2025? Will lower borrowing costs take effect in time to bolster an economy that is still growing at a solid pace but is clearly showing cracks? Chair Jerome Powell emphasized in a speech last month in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that the Fed is prepared to cut rates to support the job market and achieve a notoriously difficult "soft landing." That is when the central bank manages to stem inflation without tipping the economy into a steep recession and causing unemployment to surge.
One hopeful sign is that as Powell and other Fed officials signaled that rate cuts are coming, many interest rates already fell in anticipation. The average 30-year mortgage rate dropped to 6.2% last week — the lowest level in about 18 months and down from a peak of almost 7.
8%, according to the mortgage giant Freddie Mac. Other rates, like the yield on the five-year Treasury note, which influences auto loan rates, also tumbled. "That really does help lower those borrowing costs across the board," said Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide Financial.
"That helps to give nice relief to consumers." Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
