(WXYZ) — On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will announce whether or not they will increase interest rates.
Tuesday's consumer price index showed the inflation rate in November was 7.3%. This hasn't been seen since last December.
The Federal Reserve is expected to increase that interest rate by half a percentage point and the goal with these hikes is to battle inflation.
"The fed [is] going to raise rates. They signaled that they're going to do that and stick to that script," Moody Analytic's Chief Economists Mark Zandi said.
According to experts, these federal reserve hikes will mean consumers will be paying more in interest rates on things like credit cards and mortgages. But, the overall goal of these rate hikes is to lower prices.
"If this relieves us of the historically high and damaging inflation, and we have to make a slight tradeoff for that, I think that's a trade that many Americans would make," Mark Hamrick, senior Economic Analyst at Bankrate.com said.
But here's the bad news. These rate hikes could trigger a recession, something businesses like Amazon and Morgan Stanley have been preparing for by cutting jobs.
"One of my main focuses as Secretary of Labor will be making sure that we have job training, workforce development, and apprenticeship opportunities for new jobs and other jobs," Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said.
The Fed is hoping for a "soft landing" when it comes to a potential recession and Mark Zandi says he predicts that the Feds will stop raising interest rates next year.
