The Federal Reserve board announced a reduction of the federal funds rate by a quarter-point. Stocks fell after the board signaled it expects only two cuts next year.

For Context: In September, the Fed cut rates by half a point and signaled it expected to cut rates four times in 2025. A quarter-point cut followed in early November. On Wednesday, Fed officials released new projections showing more persistent inflation that it had expected in September. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said some officials had considered the potential inflationary effect of some of President-elect Donald Trump's policy proposals.

How Bad Was the Stock Fall?: Different articles gave different numbers for the drops in major stock indices. Wall Street Journal (Center bias) reported a 2.6% drop for the Dow, 3% for the S&P 500, and 3.6% for the Nasdaq; ABC News (Lean Left) gave similar numbers. Breitbart (Right) reported the numbers before markets closed and didn't update them later, leaving them at 1.2%, 1.5%, and 2%, respectively. Fox Business (Lean Right) noted a drop "over 1.4%" in the Dow and "over 1.7%" in the S&P 500.

What's Trump Got to Do With It?: WSJ noted early in its article that the Fed expects more inflation because of potential "policy changes by President-elect Donald Trump," pointing to Trump's tariff and deportation proposals. ABC mentioned the Trump connection toward the end of its article and didn't name any specific proposals. Breitbart and Fox Business didn't mention Trump at all.