A joint meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System was held in the offices of the Board of Governors on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, at 9:00 a.m., and continued on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, at 9:00 a.m.
The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4 percent in September, continuing the gradual upward trend
seen since the middle of the year.
The employment cost index for total private-sector labor compensation rose 3.5 percent over the 12 months ending in September, and average hourly earnings for all employees increased 3.8 percent over the same 12-month period. Both measures of hourly labor compensation growth were close to their year-earlier rates.
Total consumer price inflation, as measured by the 12-month change in the price index for personal consumption expenditures (PCE), was 2.8 percent in September. Core PCE price inflation, which excludes changes in consumer energy prices and many consumer food prices, was also 2.8 percent in September. Both total and core PCE price inflation were somewhat higher than earlier in the year. Core services price inflation had moved down, but core goods price inflation had picked up, which the staff largely attributed to the effects of higher tariffs.
Over the intermeeting period, the average level of reserve balances was around $2.9 trillion, about $500 billion lower than the level of reserve balances at the start of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet reductions in June 2022.
-
-
-
-
-
-
