Name: Fed lowers interest rates by 0.25 percentage points
Uploaded: 2025-10-29T19:06:54.540Z
Duration: 1 min 44 s
Description: The U.S. Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it will lower its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points in its second straight cut.

The U.S. Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it will lower its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points in its second straight cut.

Washington

The US Federal Reserve has announced a 0.25 percentage point cut to its benchmark interest rate, bringing it to a range of 3.75 to 4 percent. This move, which was widely anticipated by economists, marks the second interest rate adjustment by the Fed this year and sets rates at their lowest level since November 2022.

The rate cut will affect various lending products such as credit cards, auto loans, and adjustable-rate mortgages, though the impact is expected to be limited, particularly for low- and middle-income consumers. Small businesses seeking to expand may benefit more significantly from the lower rates. Further insights into the Fed's outlook are expected from Chair Jerome Powell's upcoming press conference.

Fed lowers interest rates by 0.25 percentage points

Okay, we do have a quarter of a percentage point cut, Kelly, from the Federal Reserve. This information always comes in, right, as we're live on air. So much in line with economists' expectations. That's right. We were expecting a quarter point. This is the second interest rate move in general this year. It now puts the benchmark interest rate at 3.75 to 4 percent. That is the lowest that we've seen since November of 2022. But the real information, Lindsay, it's going to come out in Powell's press conference at 2.30 p.m., just about a half an hour, how he's thinking about things, how the board is thinking about that labor market inflation piece. But what I want to emphasize is this cut, it will flow through to credit card rates, auto loans, adjustable rate mortgages. But a quarter point, it's not a ton, especially for those low-income, middle-income consumers that have been struggling when over the past five years, prices have cumulatively grown more than wages. A quarter point cut is not going to do much to help those that are struggling underneath that weight. So let's talk about who benefits from this. So it would be consumers, for example. Really, though, I think the bigger one is going to be small businesses who are looking to expand, who have been waiting for that moment when the interest rate ticks down a little bit in order to take that loan out. That being said, it doesn't always, if you're thinking about, if you're someone who's thinking about going out and buying a house right now, the decision today doesn't always flow through one-to-one with the 30-year fixed. So there's a lot of moving pieces. But I would say small businesses in general today, of course, they're being crushed by a number of other different components in the economy right now. OK, Kelly O'Grady, we will be watching for Jerome Powell's comments and we will talk to you after they happen in our next hour. Thank you so much.

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