The Federal Reserve opted to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged in its first policy meeting since President Trump's inauguration.

The central bank’s decision to pause at its first meeting of 2025 followed a series of cuts that began in September to account for progress already made on getting inflation down. Over the course of three meetings, the Fed lowered rates by a full percentage point to a range of 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, which was maintained on Wednesday.

Consumers and traders are waiting to learn if the Fed’s pause is a one-meeting hold or the start of a longer stretch.

President Trump has said he will "demand" lower interest rates, raising questions about his ability to influence the Federal Reserve.

Fed chair Jerome Powell said he has not talked with Trump since the president demanded last week “interest rates drop immediately.”

That’s the prediction of Bank of America economists who think Canada’s central bank will cut 25 basis points on Jan. 29 and then hold its key rate at 3 per cent. “We expect the forward guidance to signal a pause as the BoC waits to see how both domestic activity and U.S. trade policy play out,” said the economists led by Carlos Capistran.

While investors fret about what the arrival of DeepSeek means for their all-in bet on American artificial intelligence dominance, they’re ignoring even bigger questions.

Consumer Stress Is on the Rise Rising auto repossessions and a growing rate of minimum credit card payments offer signs consumers may be getting stretched. Those figures complicate the notion that the consumer is relatively healthy,

The president bashed Jerome Powell on inflation less than two hours after the Fed chair announced interest rates would stay put. As Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan may attest, Trump’s timing is not coincidental.

Nonetheless, already there is a clash with President Trump, who believes interest rates are “far too high." On his Truth Social platform, Trump went on the attack: Because Jay Powell and the Fed failed to stop the problem they created with Inflation,

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