Please stay tuned for important disclosure information at the conclusion of this episode.

Welcome to Investing Insights. I'm your host, Ivana Hampton. Many investors' expectations rose in 2024.

Factors like the broader stock market rally and the artificial intelligence boom lifted moods.

But the feeling of uncertainty is inching up for 2025 because of stubborn inflation and the

new administration in Washington.

Some market watchers are asking, what's next?

I talked with Morningstar Inc.'s global markets editor, Tom Lorisela, about 2024's biggest headlines.

The Smart Investor newsletter editor also shared five storylines that investors should watch for in 2025.

Welcome back to the podcast, Tom.

Glad to be here.

The Federal Reserve's interest rate forecast for 2025 overshadowed its final rate

decision for 2024.

The Fed trimmed a quarter point.

How did Fed Chair Jerome Powell explain the committee's decision to scale back from four cuts

to two next year?

Well, what we saw was a very interesting shift.

And I just want to say what was most notable was that this was the first real surprise

that we've seen out of the Fed in quite some time.

The Fed's become very, very good at signaling what it's going to be doing.

They don't like to surprise the markets.

I'm hard pressed to think of a meeting lately where we didn't know exactly what they were

going to do or even, you know, to the degree to which Powell was going to be signaling, you know,

...