Inflation—the Fed’s primary bugbear for most of the past four years—has come a long way. The year-over-year increase in the personal-consumption expenditures price index, wh

Fed Chair Jerome Powell last week. (Shelby Tauber/Bloomberg News) Depending on whom you ask, the Federal Reserve has done an admirable job of wrestling inflation back under control, or deserves blame for letting it soar in the first place—or both.

FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Susan Collins stands behind the Jackson Lake Lodge in Jackson Hole, where the Kansas City Fed holds its annual economic symposium, in Wyoming, U.S., August 24, 2023. REUTERS/Ann Saphir/File Photo

CD rates typically follow the direction of the federal funds rate. Though unlike the last time the fed funds rate was 4.50%-4.75% in 2023, CD rates will go down, not up.

Most expect the Federal Open Market Committee to cut interest rates in 2025. The question of how much will be informed by economic data.