暂停降息，加息并非基准项——美联储1月议息会议点评

1. Report Industry Investment Rating - No relevant information provided 2. Core Viewpoints of the Report - The Fed's suspension of interest rate cuts is in line with market expectations, and the interest rate guidance reflects significant internal differences among officials. Powell emphasized that the current policy is not "significantly tight," and raising interest rates is not the basic assumption for anyone's next move. There is still a possibility of interest rate cuts this year, sending a dovish signal. The Fed is likely to open the window for interest rate cuts in the second half of the year due to the support of the short - term US economic fundamentals, the marginal mitigation of the downward risk in the employment market and the upward risk of inflation, and the better - than - expected economic resilience shown by retail sales data [1][18]. 3. Summary by Related Catalogs 3.1 Interest Rate Decision - On the early morning of January 29, 2026, after three consecutive interest rate cuts since September 2025, the Fed suspended interest rate cuts as expected, maintaining the federal funds rate target range at 3.5% - 3.75%, and the reserve balance rate and discount rate at 3.65% and 3.75% respectively. Since the start of the interest rate cut cycle in September 2024, the Fed has cut interest rates by a total of 175BP [1][3]. 3.2 Interest Rate Statement - The Fed's judgment on the economic outlook has improved compared to December, especially in the employment aspect. There are still differences among officials on interest rate cuts. Milan and Waller voted against the decision. Milan has voted against four times in a row, and Waller, as a potential candidate for the new Fed chairman, voted against and supported a 25BP interest rate cut. In terms of economic description, it changed from "expanding at a moderate pace" in December to "expanding at a robust pace." Regarding employment, the Fed said that "the unemployment rate has shown certain signs of stabilization." For inflation, the description changed from the trend judgment of "inflation has risen compared to the beginning of the year" in December to the absolute - level judgment of "inflation is still slightly high" [1][6][9]. 3.3 Labor Market - The downward risk of employment has been marginally alleviated, and the unemployment rate has tended to be stable. Since July 2025, the US unemployment rate has remained in the range of 4.3% - 4.5%, and the weekly initial jobless claims have not increased further. However, non - farm payrolls are still at a low level, and the scale of new jobs in the government and private sectors is relatively limited. The supply and demand sides of the employment market have slowed down, but the risk of a significant weakening has decreased significantly, reducing the need for short - term interest rate cuts and supporting the Fed's wait - and - see stance [1][11]. 3.4 Inflation - Concerns about inflation rebound have subsided, but the absolute level is still higher than the long - term target. In December, the year - on - year CPI and core CPI in the US were 2.7% and 2.6% respectively, and the month - on - month were 0.3% and 0.2% respectively. Among the sub - items, the prices of household goods and clothing related to tariffs in core commodities continued to rise, the prices of leisure services increased significantly, the prices of education services decreased significantly month - on - month, and housing inflation remained resilient. Although the December inflation data alleviated market concerns about inflation rebound, the absolute level of inflation has not returned to the policy target, which restricts the Fed's subsequent easing operations [1][16]. 3.5 Other Issues - Powell did not make substantial responses to political issues such as the Cook case, the Department of Justice subpoena, and the dollar fluctuation at the press conference. He has no plans for his future after his term as chairman expires in May. He also said that the lawsuit against Fed Governor Cook might be the most significant case in the Fed's history, emphasized the importance of the Fed's independence, and suggested that the next Fed chairman should stay away from elected politics [1][18].