The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is heading into its final meeting of 2025 amid an unusually high level of internal disagreement. Five of the twelve voting members have publicly voiced skepticism or outright opposition to further rate cuts, while three governors at the Fed’s Washington headquarters support easing. This level of division three or more dissenting views has not been recorded in a single meeting since 2019 and has occurred only nine times since 1990. This rare fragmentation underscores a deeper tension within the Fed: the struggle to balance the dual mandate of stabilizing inflation and ... (full story)