Highest rate since 1954: 19.1% monthly average recorded June 1981(3)
Lowest rate since 1954: 0.05% monthly average recorded April 2020(3)
Changes to the federal funds rate in the last 12 months
The Fed held rates at a target range between 5.25% and 5.50% following the second Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting of 2024.
Over the last 24 months or so we’ve seen a lot of movement in the Fed rate, with the Fed raising rates four times in 2023, starting with consecutive rate increases of 25 basis points in February, March and May 2023, rates holding in June only increased by a further 25 basis point hike in July. Since it’s been back-to-back-to-back holds in September, November and December.
The Fed raised rates seven times in 2022, which is the highest number of Fed rate hikes in a single year since 2005. While 2005 saw more Fed rate hikes in total (8), individual increases were just 25 basis points, whereas the changes in 2022 have ranged from 25 to 75 basis points.
Fed rate forecast
Finder’s Fed panel correctly predicted that the Fed would hold rates at the January 2024 meeting.
6 years of changes to the federal funds rate
Since 2018, the average federal funds rate has been 1.89%, which is roughly three times lower than it is today. During this period, however, the US saw historically low rates, in part due to COVID, with rates hitting a record low of 0.05% for the months of April and May 2020.
The history of federal funds rate changes
While it’s not a great sign that the fed rate is way up, currently holding at 5.33%, it’s pretty close to the average rate since 1954 — which is 4.6%.
2024 FOMC meeting calendar
Seven meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee are scheduled for 2024.
Richard Laycock is Finder’s NYC-based senior content marketing manager & insights editor, spending the last decade data diving, writing and editing articles about all things personal finance. His musings can be found across the web including on NASDAQ, MoneyMag, Yahoo Finance and Travel Weekly. Richard studied Media at Macquarie University, including a semester abroad at The Missouri School of Journalism (MIZZOU).
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