Alex Osola

peace plan.

It's Tuesday, December 9th.

I'm Alex Oselev for The Wall Street Journal.

This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.

Today, Federal Reserve officials gathered for their final two-day rate-setting meeting of the year.

They won't announce their decision until tomorrow, but they're expected to cut rates by a quarter point, though as many as half the policymakers have signaled that they oppose a cut.

Officials have been unusually divided over whether a weaker jobs market or worsening inflation would be harder to fix if the Fed makes the wrong choice now.

Some outside the Fed think that a quarter-point rate cut doesn't go far enough, including President Trump.

Another of those people is Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council, who is widely believed to be Trump's pick to take over as Fed chair next year.

Here's Hassett speaking this morning at the WSJ CEO Council Summit.

Journalist Poppy Harlow asked him whether he'd substantially lower interest rates if he became the Fed chair.

Hassett says he would rely on his own judgment if he were the Fed chair and not bow to political pressure when deciding on policy.

But tomorrow, investors expect the Fed to signal caution about cutting rates further in 2026.

And in today's trading, major U.S.

indexes were mixed.

The Nasdaq and the S&P were almost unchanged, while the Dow fell 0.4%.

The worst performer in the Dow was JPMorgan Chase, whose share slid 4.7% after an executive predicted higher expenses next year.

It was the steepest decline in the bank's shares since April.

In commodities trading, silver prices closed above $60 a troy ounce for the first time.

Its gains have outpaced gold this year, making silver the hottest commodity of 2025.