The Fed Just Cut Rates, Again
September 18, 2019As predicted, the Federal Reserve just cut the benchmark Federal Funds rate by another 25 basis points (0.25 percentage points), the second such cut this year.
Having dropped its benchmark rate a total of 5 percentage points between August of 2007 and the end of 2008, a move which helped drive the 30-year mortgage rate down to an all-time low of 3.31 percent in 2012, the Fed started raising rates at the end of 2015 but had only managed to add back a total of 2.25 percentage points prior to the first of this year’s two cuts which have dropped the target range for the federal funds rate back down to 1.75 to 2 percent, leaving a lot less wiggle room should the need arise.
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