Next year, the new FOMC voting members will take the lead in "going hawkish": Interest rates should be frozen until spring, as inflation remains a major concern.

On December 22, Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack stated that after a series of interest rate cuts in the past three meetings of the Fed, she believes there is no need for any adjustments to the interest rates in the coming months. Hammack opposes the recent rate cuts due to her concerns about persistently high inflation, which outweighs her worries about potential vulnerabilities in the labor market—the latter being the reason officials have cumulatively cut rates by 0.75 percentage points in recent months. Hammack is not a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) this year but will gain voting rights next year. Hammack hinted that the Fed does not need to adjust its current benchmark interest rate, which is in the range of 3.5% to 3.75%, at least until spring next year. She indicated that by then, the Fed will be better able to assess whether recent inflation in commodity prices is fading as the impact of tariffs is more fully digested in the Supply Chain. (Jin10)