Everything Americans thought they knew about personal finance was upended when the Federal Reserve started aggressively hiking interest rates to cool post-pandemic inflation. After more than a decade of ultralow rates, borrowers suddenly found themselves ...

Wall Street’s rate cut narrative is shifting as one major bank quietly changes course.

Those objectives are at odds right now, and policymakers are split on where interest rates should go from here. Uncertainty about monetary policy could make investors nervous, and potentially fuel weakness in the stock market in the short term.

Mortgage rates are unlikely to return to their pandemic lows in 2026, but they could still deliver some relief to borrowers. It’s possible that rates will even fall below the 6% threshold. “I expect the average 30-year fixed rate to fall below 6% for ...

On the surface, things look... fine. U.S. GDP growth hit 2.0% in 2025 despite a government shutdown in Q4 and major policy shifts. The IMF projects a modest pickup to 2.4% in 2026. Inflation is supposedly on track to hit the 2% target by early 2027. And Fed Chair Jerome Powell even gave it a name during a recent visit to Harvard:

Some economists think the Fed, facing inflationary pressures from rising energy prices, may not cut interest rates at all this year.

Major bank Westpac is expecting the RBA to hike interest rates another three times in May, June and August. (Source: AAP) The major bank now expects the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will hike interest rates in May,