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Wednesday, September 17, 2025 | |
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Good morning, Quartz readers! |
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HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW |
Don’t expect mortgage rates to drop amid any Fed
cuts. Recent drops in home loan rates have come from weaker economic data and falling Treasury yields, not central bank policy. |
Student loan borrowers are falling behind at record levels. More than six million are now delinquent, driving average credit scores down nearly 70 points and leaving Gen Z hit hardest since payments resumed. |
S&P 500 notched a record as Wall Street bets on rate cuts. Analysts are betting on breaking 7,000 by year-end even as a weakening labor market fuels a paradoxical “jobless
expansion.” |
TikTok gets more breathing room in Washington. Despite earlier rumblings of a deal, the U.S. pushed the deadline for a sale till mid-December — and big-time buyers are already lined
up. |
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PROGRAM FOR LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT |
contribute to corporate success on a higher level. Collaborating with talented peers from around the globe, you will expand your leadership expertise and accelerate your career. |
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THE INTEREST IS MUTUAL |
The Fed is about to hand out a rate cut, but don’t confuse that with a gift. Policymakers meet this week, with markets betting on a 0.25% trim in the Fed Funds Rate — the first since the COVID-19 pandemic — though whispers of a 0.5% move are circling, and some economists see an easing of as much as 0.75% by year’s end. The real fight isn’t over decimal points, but roles: whether central bank chief Jerome Powell’s committee is playing lifeguard or therapist to an economy that looks healthy on the surface but is showing
signs of fatigue underneath.
For households, cheaper borrowing can look like instant relief: lower mortgage payments, lighter credit card bills, easier car loans. But the fine print bites back. More demand in housing often inflates prices right back up, savings accounts could lose their sweet 5% yields, and job security is already wobbling as unemployment drifts higher. As one analyst put it: Rate cuts aren’t freebies — they’re usually a signal that
growth is slowing, not booming.
Investors, meanwhile, are circling small caps and Japanese equities, hoping rate cuts juice earnings where tax relief and global shifts already help. Markets love the idea of cheaper money — record highs prove that — but the Fed’s guidance matters more than the cut itself. A quarter-point is headline material, but the real story is whether Powell signals a steady hand or an open spigot. Either way, the rate cut era is back, and it’s bringing as much
caution as cheer. Quartz’s Brian O’Connell has more on how cheaper borrowing can still cost you more. |
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TRUMP CARD AT THE FED |
The White House isn’t done trying to evict Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve. Hours after a federal appeals court cleared the way for her to join this week’s interest-rate meeting, the Trump administration vowed
to keep pushing her dismissal, promising an appeal that could end up in front of the Supreme Court. Cook, accused of mortgage fraud but not charged, remains in her seat — and on the voting roster — as she sues to keep her job.
That means Cook will cast a ballot alongside President Donald Trump’s freshly minted appointee Stephen Miran, a top White House advisor who was confirmed to the Fed on Monday and immediately sworn in before the 12-member
committee convened. Miran’s “unpaid leave” from the West Wing has critics warning he’s more emissary than independent governor. The pairing creates the rare spectacle of a sitting president both firing and hiring Fed governors in the same week, with monetary policy caught in the crossfire.
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