There were two dissenters from the Federal Reserve’s decision to lower the federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point on Wednesday, in two different directions.
Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran instead called for a half-point cut, while Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid voted for no decrease.
“The decision to lower interest rates by 25bps in October was never in doubt, but the unexpected hawkish dissent from a regional Fed president highlights that future moves are becoming more contentious,” said Michael Pearce, deputy chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. “We expect the Fed to slow the pace of cuts from here.”
Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, called two dissents “unusual,” particularly because one wanted a deeper cut and the other wanted no change.
“Powell will have to use all of his leadership skills to keep Fed leaders moving in the same direction in the months to come,” she said.
It is the second dissent in a row for Miran, who was the sole dissenter during September’s meeting when he called for a half-point rate cut there too. The central bank instead decreased the federal funds rate by 25 basis points, or a quarter percentage point.
Miran joined the Fed in September after being appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate. Schmid voted for the rate decrease in September, despite expressing some doubt about lowering interest rates during a CNBC interview in late August.
