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(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve, in addition to its main interest-rate cut, lowered the rate on a facility used to help control its benchmark as it aims to keep US funding markets running smoothly.Most Read from BloombergNYPD Car Chases Are Becoming More Frequent — and More DangerousOfficials lowered the rate on the overnight reverse repurchase agreement facility relative to the lower bound of the target range by 5 basis points, according to their Wednesday policy statement. Taken together wi

The Federal Reserve will take a more cautious approach to its easing cycle, according to the latest dot plot projections.

The Federal Reserve adjusted a key part of its rate control toolkit on Wednesday, lowering the rate it offers on its reverse repo facility by more than it cut the federal funds rate. The Fed said that the reverse repo rate will now stand at 4.25% from its prior level of 4.55%, marking a 30 basis point easing, while it lowered the federal funds target rate range by a quarter percentage point to between 4.25% and 4.5%. Analysts believe the largely expected adjustment is a bid by the Fed to nudge cash out of a facility that’s widely viewed as a proxy for excessive liquidity in the financial system.

U.S. central bankers on Wednesday issued fresh projections calling for two quarter-point interest-rate cuts next year amid rising inflation, a forecast consistent with a wait-and-see approach come January as Donald Trump starts his second four-year stint in the White House. The Federal Reserve's latest quarterly summary of economic projections shows policymakers expect inflation by the Fed's targeted metric to end this year at 2.4% and 2025 at 2.5%. The fresh forecasts imply a shift to a far more cautious pace of rate cuts in the new year after Fed policymakers delivered a third straight reduction in short-term borrowing costs at the close of their Dec. 17-18 meeting.

(Bloomberg) -- Here are key takeaways from the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision on Wednesday:Most Read from BloombergNYPD Car Chases Are Becoming More Frequent — and More DangerousFederal Open Market Committee votes 11-1 to lower benchmark rate by 25 basis points to target range of 4.25%-4.5%Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack votes against decision in favor holding rates steady, the second such dissent since the Fed began lowering rates in September“Dot plot” of rate projections shows

For all the extreme bullishness about 2025, Wall Street is just a bit edgy as the Federal Reserve looks set to deliver its final interest rate of 2024 and give a glimpse into next year. Remarkably, the Dow Jones Industrial Average's 9-day losing streak is the longest negative run since 1978 - but the index is still just under 4% from record highs set earlier this month. As Treasury yields have backed up sharply again over the past fortnight - even as the latest U.S. industrial production and retail sales excluding autos missed forecasts for last month - the yearend is looking more anxious than ebullient new year forecasts suggest.

The Federal Reserve will conclude its final meeting of 2024 on Wednesday, and next year will likely be Fed Chair Jerome Powell's last full one at the helm of the U.S. central bank, with his four-year term due to expire in May of 2026. Powell's more than six years as Fed chief have been consequential, but the coming months could present new challenges as well as an opportunity to close out some unfinished business. Powell's main mission is "completing the 'soft landing' with inflation at 2% and full employment, in what's likely to be trickier weather" with tax, tariff and immigration policies that could make the economic landscape harder to read, said Donald Kohn, a former Fed vice chair who is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

The Federal Reserve appears likely to take a step on Wednesday to nudge cash off its balance sheet as it enters a more uncertain period in what many see as the final months in its effort to draw down its balance sheet. Economists broadly expect the Fed to announce it's cutting the rate it pays money market funds and others to park cash at its overnight reverse repo facility, or ONRRP, by a bigger margin than the expected cut to its policy rate. While the federal funds rate target is seen being trimmed by a quarter-percentage-point to between 4.25% and 4.50%, the reverse repo rate, or RRP, is seen falling to 4.25% from its current setting of 4.55%.

(Bloomberg) -- While concern has grown in the past week that narrowing market breadth has tapped the brakes on the S&P 500 Index’s blistering rally, it turns out that stock bulls are still stepping in to snap up shares ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision.Most Read from BloombergNYPD Car Chases Are Becoming More Frequent — and More DangerousThe index’s DVAN trend line — a proprietary divergence analysis that measures buying or selling pressure — has been on a buying streak since

(Bloomberg) -- Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong said Wednesday that the ongoing political turmoil in South Korea weighs on the economy, suggesting authorities may downgrade growth forecasts and take stabilizing actions in response.Most Read from BloombergNYPD Car Chases Are Becoming More Frequent — and More DangerousThere’s a high chance South Korea’s gross domestic product will grow 2.1% this year rather than 2.2% as projected earlier, Rhee said as he assessed the economic impact of the t