Consumers and traders are waiting to learn if the Fed’s pause is a one-meeting hold or the start of a longer stretch.

The central bank’s decision to pause at its first meeting of 2025 followed a series of cuts that began in September to account for progress already made on getting inflation down. Over the course of three meetings, the Fed lowered rates by a full percentage point to a range of 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, which was maintained on Wednesday.

Nonetheless, already there is a clash with President Trump, who believes interest rates are “far too high." On his Truth Social platform, Trump went on the attack: Because Jay Powell and the Fed failed to stop the problem they created with Inflation,