Related: Despite interest rate cuts, mortgage rates rise for home buyers So it's happened this week. Both the Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index reports showed small increases when many investors and economic experts were expecting flat results or declines.

Economists expect the Fed to announce another quarter-point rate cut in December, after a quarter-point reduction last week and half-point cut in September.

When the Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point in September, it wasn't a particularly surprising move. At that point, the Fed was expected to make its first rate cut of the year in response to cooling inflation.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday that the economy is in a good place, with inflation on a sustainable path back to the central bank’s 2% target, and that he expects inflation to continue to come down on a “sometimes bumpy” path.

The president-elect will push for aggressive rate cuts. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell will move judiciously. We've seen this movie before.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday that interest rates are still expected to decline further, but suggested they might not be that much lower over the next few months.

Jay Powell backed a gradual approach to lowering interest rates, saying the US central bank does not need to be “in a hurry” amid a strong economy and a “bumpy” path down for inflation. In a speech delivered in Dallas on Thursday,

The strength we are currently seeing in the economy gives us the ability to approach our decisions carefully,” Powell said.