Policy changes: When the Fed adjusts the federal funds rate, it spills over into many aspects of the economy, including mortgage rates. The federal funds rate affects how much it costs banks to borrow money, which in turn affects what banks charge consumers to make a profit.

Fed chair Jerome Powell said he has not talked with Trump since the president demanded last week “interest rates drop immediately.”

The Federal Reserve's monetary policy group is expected to hold rates steady, but the chairman will face a litany of questions about the year ahead and on the inflationary impact of implications of the Trump administration's early policy moves.