The Federal Reserve (Fed) is the central bank of the U.S. It's responsible for managing monetary policy, regulating the banking industry, and maintaining the financial system's stability. That's why, when the U.S. started seeing high inflation in 2022, the Fed stepped in to try to help by raising interest rates. It's now raised interest rates 10 times since March 2022.

The federal funds rate is the rate banks and other financial institutions pay to borrow money from each other. It's also one of the benchmark interest rates that affects things like mortgages, car loans, and credit card debt.

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Source Fool.com