Federal Reserve raises interest rates; San Diego professor discusses

SAN DIEGO — The Federal Reserve raised interest rates 0.25 percent, a smaller hike than previously expected.

The banking scare has mostly subsided and after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and now the Fed has stopped talking about rate hikes in the near term.

Inflation has been falling, but is still too high to lower interest rates. So what does this mean for consumers?

“It will be more expensive to buy a home. It will be more expensive to buy a car,” said Alan Gin, a professor of economics from the University of San Diego Knass School of Business. “If you have credit cards and you have a balance, you have to pay more in interest.”

Housing and car transactions have slowed and that is a sign of systemic cooling in the wider economy, but hiring is still strong with an unemployment rate at 3.9 percent.

“If I were to put a percentage on it, I would put a 60% chance on having a rescission, so that’s more than half. So more likely than not, but not guaranteed,” said Gin.

While that sounds like bad news, experts say that is what might make a major difference against the extreme prices consumers have had to deal with over the last few years.

“For most people, if you are able to keep your job, you are not going to feel much impact as far as a recession is concerned. In fact, things might get better in terms of prices slowing down and housing prices coming down,” said Gin.

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