How consumer interest rates have changed during Jerome Powell’s tenure leading the Fed | CNN Business

Wednesday marked the last meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee under the leadership of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Powell chaired his first of more than 65 meetings in March 2018. During his eight years at the helm, the FOMC raised the central bank’s key overnight lending rate 15 times and lowered it 11 times, according to Fed data. This week, as expected, the FOMC decided to stand pat. The committee bases its rate decisions on economic data and its best assessment of how many factors – eg, fiscal policy and geopolitical events – may affect both inflation and employment. Fed holds interest rates steady again in Powell’s last meeting as chair The Fed funds rate is now 2.25 percentage points higher than it was in March 2018. But that doesn’t reflect the wide swings it took during the Powell era – from a low range of 0% to 0.25% during the pandemic to a high of 5.25% to 5.50% from mid-July 2023 through mid-September 2024, when the Fed was trying to beat back inflation. At each step of the way, the FOMC’s decisions affect – directly or indirectly – how much you make on your savings and pay on your debts – and how much you pay at checkout. Here is a