US inflation jumped to 3% in January, defying forecasts and adding pressure on the Federal Reserve to rethink its timeline for interest rate cuts.
Data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) showed a 0.5% increase in consumer prices from December, with core inflation—excluding food and energy—rising 3.3% year-over-year. Economists polled by Reuters had expected inflation to hold steady at 2.9%.
Trump pushes for lower rates as markets react
The spike comes just a week after the Fed ignored calls from President Donald Trump to cut interest rates, instead keeping its benchmark rate at 4.25% to 4.5%. At the time, he publicly agreed that holding rates steady was the right decision, as was reported by Cryptopolitan. But now, it seems the president is changing his mind yet again.
“Interest Rates should be lowered, something which would go hand in hand with upcoming Tariffs!!! Lets Rock and Roll, America!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social today.
His demand came less than 24 hours after his nemesis, Fed Chair Jerome Powell, insisted there was no rush to cut rates. “We will do our job and stay out of politics,” Powell said Tuesday, reinforcing the central bank’s independence.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later clarified that the administration was more focused on bringing down the 10-year Treasury yield than adjusting short-term rates.
Of course market expectations for rate cuts changed immediately. Futures contracts tied to the Fed’s policy rate indicated traders now see no cuts until at least June or July, with some economists at Bank of America predicting the Fed might not lower rates at all this year after already reducing them by a full percentage point in 2024.
Meanwhile, Wall Street took a hit. The hotter-than-expected inflation report sent stock futures plunging. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped over 400 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures fell by 1%. Investors who had been banking on an imminent rate cut scrambled to adjust their bets as markets digested the data.
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