Federal Reserve to announce next interest rate move on Wednesday. Here's what to expect.

The Federal Reserve will announce its final interest rate decision of 2025 on Wednesday, capping off a turbulent year for the U.S. economy defined by fresh labor market headwinds and tariff-fueled inflation that has deepened the nation's affordability crunch .

The U.S. central bank will have to make its decision without some key government data. Hiring data for November and the latest inflation number have been delayed until mid-December — after the Fed's meeting — because of the U.S. government shutdown .

Those two measures are key to the Fed's decision-making on interest rates because of its so-called dual mandate, which is to keep both inflation and unemployment low. Those goals have proved difficult to reconcile this year amid a slowdown in hiring and a spike in layoffs