Federal Reserve board votes to cut interest rates

[Geee]

Washington Examiner

The Federal Reserve cut rates by a quarter point Wednesday in a widely expected move aimed at staving off a slowing economy and fears of a recession.

 

It was the third rate cut in a row for the body.

In a deviation from his predecessors, Trump has pilloried the Fed and Powell in recent months for holding back economic growth with previous interest rate hikes and has called for the central bank to slash rates to zero or set negative rates in line with some European countries.

Last week, Trump tweeted the Fed would be “derelict in its duties” if it didn’t lower rates again Wednesday and said the central bank was “way too fast to raise, and way too slow to cut.” The president also called Powell and other bank officials “boneheads,” and has equated the Fed chairman, who he selected to replace Janet Yellen, to a “golfer who can’t putt.”

Despite Trump’s criticisms of the Fed, the central bank has lowered borrowing costs twice this year as it aims to sustain economic expansion, now in its 11th year. In September, the Fed lowered its interest rate target by a quarter percentage point, which followed a rate cut in July.