WASHINGTON/NEW YORK -- The U.S. Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage point on Wednesday, marking its first rate cut in ten and a half years, as it sought to cushion the American economy from a global slowdown and trade tensions.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the move was a "mid-cycle adjustment," rather than the beginning of a new phase of rate cuts, disappointing markets and inviting a frustrated tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump.
