Fed Funds Rate Today

The effective federal funds rate was 3.88% on Nov 5, 2026, unchanged from the previous business day. The Federal Reserve's target range for the federal funds rate is 3.75%–4.00%. The last change, effective Sep 17, 2026, was a 0.25-percentage-point increase. A year earlier (Nov 5, 2025), the reading was 3.87%.

The FOMC sets a target range a quarter of a percentage point wide. The effective federal funds rate is what banks actually paid on overnight loans, measured each business day by the New York Fed. The Fed keeps it inside the range mainly through the interest it pays on banks' reserve balances and its overnight reverse repo facility.

Lower rates reduce companies' borrowing costs, make bonds and cash less attractive next to stocks, and raise the present value of future earnings — all supportive of share prices. Higher rates do the reverse. The reason behind a move matters, though: cuts made because a recession is arriving have often come alongside falling stock prices.

Decisions are made at FOMC meetings, which are scheduled eight times a year, roughly every six weeks. The Fed can also act between meetings in an emergency, as it did in March 2020. Many meetings end with no change.