Cleveland Fed Chairman Hammock opposes interest rate cuts

On December 19, the Federal Reserve stated that Loretta Mester, President of the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank, opposed the Fed's decision to cut interest rates by 25 basis points. She would prefer to keep interest rates at their previous level of 4.5%-4.75%. Mester became the second voting member this year to vote against a rate cut, following Fed Governor Bowman who opposed a 50-basis point cut in September. Earlier this month in a planned meeting, Mester expressed doubts about whether the Fed should continue cutting rates amidst ongoing inflation. Bowman voted in favor of this rate cut.