San José, CA – On Wednesday, September 16, the Federal Reserve Bank, widely called the Fed, raised short-term interest rates by one quarter of one percent (0.25%). The Federal Funds Rate, or the interest rate for overnight loans between banks, is now in a range of 3.75% to 4%.

The main concern of the Federal Reserve is that the inflation rate has gone up from the beginning of Trump’s term. In February of 2025, the Consumer Price Index, or CPI, the most widely used measure of inflation, saw average prices up 2.4% from a year earlier. But as of August 2026, average prices were up 3.4% from a year earlier, up about 1% since Trump’s second term began.