As 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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