The Fed Cuts Interest Rates For First Time Since 2008

From Wire Reports

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time in more than a decade in a bid to protect the record-long economic expansion.

The widely expected quarter-point move, the Fed’s first since it cut rates to near zero in 2008, is meant to protect the economy against the potentially harmful effects of a growth slowdown in China and Europe and uncertainty from President Trump’s trade war.

“In light of the implications of global developments for the economic outlook as well as muted inflation pressures, the committee decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate,” according to the Federal Open Market Committee’s policy statement.

The Fed also announced an early end to its efforts to shrink its balance sheet, another attempt to keep the economy moving. The central bank’s holdings of government-backed bonds swelled during the financial crisis as it bought assets to try to reinvigorate growth.

Policymakers have been slowly siphoning off securities to return their balance sheet to a more normal size, and that process was slated to end in September. It will now conclude Aug. 1.