At 3:00 AM Taiwan time on December 11, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) released its latest interest rate decision as scheduled. At this FOMC meeting, the Fed decided to continue to cut interest rates by 25 basis points, lowering the federal benchmark interest rate from 3.75%~4% to 3.5%~3.75%.
Nick Timiraos, a Wall Street journalist known as a mouthpiece for the Federal Reserve, wrote on the X platform that the Fed's post-meeting statement showed that three Fed officials voted against further rate cuts: Goolsbee and Schmid opposed further rate cuts, while the ultra-dovish Milan believed a 50-basis-point cut was necessary. This indicates that internal divisions within the Fed remain very serious.
It's also worth noting that the Fed's dot plot shows that a 25-basis-point rate cut is expected in both 2026 and 2027. Of the 19 officials: 7 believe there should be no rate cut in 2026; 4 believe there should be a cumulative 25-basis-point cut in 2026; 4 believe there should be a cumulative 50-basis-point cut in 2026; 2 believe there should be a cumulative 75-basis-point cut in 2026; 1 believes there should be a cumulative 100-basis-point cut in 2026; and 1 believes there should be a cumulative 150-basis-point cut in 2026.
Bitcoin fluctuates up and down
Influenced by the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and dot plot, Bitcoin experienced volatile price swings and intense battles between bulls and bears. It initially surged past $93,000, but subsequent selling pressure pushed it down to a low of $91,750. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $92,930.
US stocks turned positive
In the US stock market, the four major indices turned positive during the session:
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.66%, or 316.13 points, to 47,880.19.
- The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.068%, or 16.11 points, to 23,592.6.
- The S&P 500 rose 0.37%, or 25.47 points, to 6,866.29.
- The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 0.7%, or 51.79 points, to 7,418.61.
