Fed Cuts Key Interest Rate Half-point to 1 Percent

Fed Cuts Key Interest Rate Half-point to 1 Percent

Fed slashes key interest rate by half-point to 1 percent to combat financial crisis
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve has slashed a key interest rate by half a percentage point as it seeks to revive an economy hit by a long list of maladies stemming from the most severe financial crisis in decades.
The central bank on Wednesday reduced its target for the federal funds rate, the interest banks charge on overnight loans, to 1 percent, a low last seen in 2003-2004. The funds rate has not been lower since 1958, when Dwight Eisenhower was president.
The cut marked the second half-point reduction in the funds rate this month. The Fed slashed the rate by that amount in a coordinated move with foreign central banks on Oct. 8.

Fed is expected to cut interest rates again today- AP
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Fed cuts key rate by half point to 1 percent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate by a hefty half-percentage point on Wednesday to prevent a widening credit crisis from tipping the United States into a deep and prolonged recession.
The Fed's decision takes its target for overnight bank lending to 1 percent, the lowest since June 2004. Wall Street was united in the opinion the Fed would lower rates, although views were split on the likely size of the move.
The U.S. central bank has cut benchmark overnight rates from 5.25 percent in nine steps over the past 13 months to counter a financial storm that started with the collapse of the U.S. mortgage market and spread around the world.
(Reporting by Mark Felsenthal and David Lawder)

Source:yahoo,reuters