
The Federal Reserve is making a rate cut decision on Thursday. Here's the impact on your money.
CBSN
The Federal Reserve on Thursday is expected to cut interest rates for the second time this year, with the decision coming less than two months after its surprise jumbo cut in September.
The Fed is expected to shave borrowing costs by 0.25 percentage points, or half the size of its September reduction, according to forecasts from economists polled by FactSet. That would bring the federal funds rate — the interest rate banks charge each other for borrowing money — down to a range of 4.5% to 4.75% from its current 4.75% to 5% level.
With the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure dropping to 2.1% last month, just shy of the Fed's 2% goal, the central bank is easing off the brakes it applied when inflation hit a 40-year high during the pandemic. High borrowing costs have made it more expensive to buy everything from homes to cars.

Trump's tariffs target Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Australian territory inhabited by penguins
With his announcement of widespread new tariffs on Wednesday, President Trump spared very few places on the globe from his effort to upend global trade — even the remote Heard Island and McDonald Islands, a sub-Antarctic Australian territory inhabited by penguins, but no people.

Researchers are predicting an above-average Atlantic hurricane season in 2025, likely producing stronger and more frequent storms than a typical year but at the same time with less intensity expected than last season. The annual prediction is closely watched in Florida and other coastal states at risk when hurricane season officially starts June 1.