The Federal Reserve announced a quarter-point interest rate reduction yesterday, its third such move this year. The target federal funds rate now stand at 1.5% after starting the year at 2.25%.
The year’s first cut, on July 31, was the first since 2008. It was followed by another on Sept. 13, when many market watchers expressed assurance no further reductions could be expected in 2019. This time, the announcement notably excluded language stating the Fed would “act as appropriate to sustain the [economic] expansion.”
Instead, “The Committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook as it assesses the appropriate path of the target range for the federal funds rate,” the statement released yesterday reads, in part.
President Donald Trump has pressured the Federal Reserve and his appointed chairman, Jerome Powell, to drop the target rate to zero or lower.
“People are VERY disappointed in Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve. The Fed has called it wrong from the beginning, too fast, too slow,” Trump tweeted Thursday. “… We are now, by far, the biggest and strongest country, but the Fed puts us at a competitive disadvantage. China is not our problem, the Federal Reserve is! We will win anyway.”
