At the press conference following today’s FOMC meeting, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said regardless of the upcoming U.S. presidential election in November, the Central Bank continues to make its interest rate decisions independently without input from any political party or office.  This is in response to much speculation that the future of interest rates is in the hands of the next U.S. President.

After announcing that the Fed left rates unchanged for the sixth straight meeting, Mr. Powell went on to say “inflation has eased substantially over the past year while the labor market has remained strong. And that’s very good news… But inflation is still too high. Further progress in bringing it down is not assured. And the path forward is uncertain”.  They Governors remain “confident” that inflation is heading in the right direction, and assured that it’s “unlikely” that the Central Bank’s next move will be a rate hike.

Moreover, the Treasury will slow the sale of its $7.58 trillion investment portfolio from the current $60 billion in monthly sales to an easier-to-process $25 billion.  At that rate it will take over 25 years to divest themselves of their assets. Nevertheless, the lower supply of bonds on the open market will make it more probably that the yields of longer-term debt instruments (like mortgages) move lower, and we like lower rates around here.