Federal Reserve officials capped 2024 with a third-straight interest-rate cut and a strong signal that inflation concerns are back in the fore.

Chair Jerome Powell put it plainly last Wednesday: The central bank’s year-end inflation projection has “kind of fallen apart.”

Officials now see it taking much longer for inflation to reach their 2% target, which they have missed for nearly four years. As a result, they dialed back expectations for rate cuts next year, and Powell made clear that any adjustments will hinge on further progress in cooling price increases.

The stronger focus on inflation is a significant shift in strategy from September when officials saw labor market softening as the greater risk. But recent data have reignited concerns about inflation stalling above the central bank’s 2% goal as have policy proposals from President-elect Donald Trump.

“As we think about further cuts we’re going to be looking for progress on inflation,” Powell said. “We have been moving sideways on 12-month inflation.”

The median policymaker now just sees just a half-percentage point of reductions next year, half of what was expected in September.

Economy continues to grow

The American economy grew at a healthy 3.1% annual clip from July through September, propelled by vigorous consumer spending and an uptick in exports, the government said in an upgrade to its previous estimate.

Third-quarter growth in U.S. gross domestic product — the economy’s output of goods and services — accelerated from the April-July rate of 3% and continued to look sturdy despite high interest rates, the Commerce Department said Thursday. GDP growth has now topped 2% in eight of the last nine quarters.

Consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, expanded at a 3.7% pace, fastest since the first quarter of 2023 and an uptick from Commerce’s previous third-quarter estimate of 3.5%.

Exports climbed 9.6%. Business investment grew a lackluster 0.8%, but investment in equipment expanded 10.8%. Spending and investment by the federal government jumped 8.9%, including a 13.9% surge in defense spending.

AT&T, Sweetgreen order return to offices for their employees

New Year’s Day is the new line in the sand in the ongoing return-to-office battle.

AT&T Inc. and Sweetgreen Inc. have both told non-frontline staff to get back to their desks more often come January. The telecom giant will require more U.S. corporate employees to be in the office five days a week. The salad chain is moving to four days for the few hundred support staffers who don’t work at its restaurants. While specifics often vary by location and business unit, the impacted workers at both companies currently come in about three days a week.

The fresh mandates follow a decree from Amazon.com Inc., whose CEO told corporate employees in September that a shift to five days in the office in 2025 would strengthen collaboration, connections and its overall culture.

Scott gives away $2 billion more

Billionaire author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott acknowledged another $2 billion in donations in a blog post on Wednesday, bringing the total she’s given away since 2019 to $19.2 billion.

She also revealed new information about how she was managing her wealth, saying she had directed advisers to invest her funds into “mission-aligned ventures.” Most of the grants she made in 2024, she said, went to bolstering economic security and opportunities.

“I’ve asked the investment team helping me manage the assets I’m working to give away to source funds and companies focused on for-profit solutions to these challenges,” Scott wrote. That is in contrast to “withdrawing funds from a bank account, or from a stock portfolio that increases the wealth and influence of leaders who already have it.”

Most of Scott’s wealth comes from shares of Amazon that she received when she divorced the company’s founder, Jeff Bezos. Forbes estimates her current wealth to be $31.7 billion, even after giving away her money for five years.

Compiled from Bloomberg, Associated Press and New York Times reports.