How to benefit from the Fed’s latest decision

Still no movement.

Still no movement. For its fourth meeting in a row, the Federal Reserve opted to leave unchanged its key short-term interest rate — which influences a host of rates on consumer financial products and bank accounts across the United States. That means that once again anyone with savings that they want to invest in stable, low-risk, interest-yielding assets is in luck. It may be especially good news for retirees, who are usually advised to keep a year’s worth of living expenses in interest-bearing accounts so that they won’t have to sell stocks from their portfolio when the market is down. Still, many investors may be eager for rate cuts — and the Fed is still forecasting that two might happen this year. But given the volatile environment amid chaotic tariff policy, Middle East tensions and other stressors, any cuts in the next several months could signal the Fed is worried about a downturn in the economy, rather than lowering rates because inflation has fallen to the Fed’s desired target. “We want interest rates to come down because inflation pressures are receding… not because the economy is rolling over and in need of Fed stimulus,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate. The annual inflation rate in May rose slightly to 2.4%.