Kitco News, Released on 12/18/24

With the Federal Reserve concluding its final policy meeting of 2024, the central bank implemented a third rate cut this year, bringing the total reductions to 100 basis points. Inflation is projected to stay at 2.5% through 2025, while the Fed forecasts only two rate cuts next year, signaling a cautious path forward. Despite this, Chair Jerome Powell described the U.S. economy as “in a good place,” raising questions about potential cracks in the Fed’s narrative. In an interview with Kitco News, Danielle DiMartino Booth, CEO & Chief Strategist at QI Research, examines the Fed’s latest decisions, inflation risks, and labor market challenges. She provides a detailed analysis of the central bank’s approach, discusses private sector job losses, and explores whether the Fed’s actions could lead to a policy misstep in 2025. Don’t miss her sharp insights on U.S. debt, quantitative tightening, and how markets might react heading into the new year.

00:00 Introduction
00:55 Inflation and Rate Cuts Discussion
04:16 Labor Market Analysis
06:01 Quantitative Tightening and Balance Sheet
08:01 Market Reactions and Future Outlook
10:47 Economic Growth Projections
15:14 Investment Strategies for 2025
16:15 Conclusion

Danielle DiMartino Booth is Founder & CEO of QI Research, a research and analytics firm. She spent nine years as an advisor to Richard W. Fisher at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Danielle left the Fed in 2015 to found Money Strong, LLC, an economic consulting firm and launched a weekly economic newsletter She is the author of Fed Up: An Insider’s Take on Why the Federal Reserve is Bad for America. DiMartino Booth began her career in New York at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Credit Suisse, where she worked fixed income and the public and private equity markets. Danielle earned her BBA as a College of Business Scholar at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She holds an MBA in Finance and International Business from the University of Texas at Austin and an MS in Journalism from Columbia University.

  economy, Fed, inflation