Fed Interest Rates Decision: Live Updates

Deal-making has slowed in recent years, largely due to high interest rates, soaring company valuations and a tight regulatory environment.

(Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's impending return to the White House appears to put the Federal Reserve on a slower and shallower path for interest rate cuts, with a slew of new policies embraced by the Republican leader poised to juice the economy and stall, or reverse, the slowdown in inflation. U.S. central bankers are still widely expected to cut the Fed's benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to the 4.50%-4.75% range when they wrap up their two-day policy meeting on Thursday. Futures contracts tied to the Fed's policy rate are also pricing in a December rate cut, though with slightly less confidence than previously, as the central bank recalibrates borrowing costs to inflation that's now much closer to its 2% target, and to a cooling labor market.

The central bank said that future cuts would be gradual amid higher inflation forecasts after the new government introduced spending and tax increases in its budget.