The Federal Open Market Committee will announce its next scheduled decision on interest rates on December 18. A rate cut is likely but far from certain.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is no longer expected to cut interest rates at its December policy meeting, Nomura has said, making it the first global brokerage to signal a pause in the central bank's rate-cutting cycle in the wake of Donald Trump's election win.

Mortgage rates, in particular, surged last year to their highest level since 2000 but have since come down alongside inflation. But it's been a bumpy ride back to the bottom in recent weeks. What, then, does this latest Fed rate cut mean for mortgage interest rates? That's what we'll break down below.

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 0.25% on November 7. More interest rate cuts are likely through the end of 2026.

These are today's mortgage and refinance rates. If the Fed ends up keeping rates steady next month, we could see mortgage rates tick up slightly.

Market-based rates such as mortgages tend to move in anticipation of future Fed policy — not the policy at the moment when the cuts happen.

Mortgage rates remain stubbornly high. In late September, it was looking like mortgage rates would drop below 6% before the end of the year. But then that downward streak ended, l