The Federal Reserve analyzes the factors it considers when raising interest rates or remaining on hold.

Reasons supporting an interest rate hike include high CPI and PPI data in September, the costs of delayed action, and the fact that current policies have not yet reached a restrictive level; reasons for holding rates steady include the manageable risks of spreading rate hikes, avoiding sending misleading signals to the market with consecutive rate hikes, and avoiding a surprise rate hike on the eve of an election.