A contentious year for the United States' central bank is expected by analysts to end with more dissents and uncertainty – two themes that have emerged in recent Federal Reserve meetings.
Fed watchers mostly expect a third consecutive rate cut when the Federal Open Market Committee concludes its final meeting of 2025 on Dec. 10. Still, for those looking to the Fed for relief from high prices, a December rate cut isn't guaranteed – Chair Jerome Powell said as much at the end of the last Fed meeting.
Analysts expect multiple dissents alongside another quarter percentage point rate cut.
“Generally speaking, the Board of Governors has a dovish skew, while the regional Fed presidents Fed presidents—who do not all vote—lean more hawkish,” Wells Fargo economists said in a Dec. 4 note. “While we expect opposition in both directions of the policy decision again, more dissents are likely to be in favor of keeping the policy rate unchanged.”
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