Good evening. I'm Jeff Bennett. On the Navaz is away. On the news hour tonight, the Federal Reserve

cuts interest rates once again, but concerns over inflation and the incoming Trump administration

raise questions about future cuts. In Syria, a report from the site of an infamous chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime

as people search for their dead. And despite the widespread negative effects of alcohol abuse,

why one of the most promising treatments is barely being used. It's really tragic. We have a medication

that helps people and less than 2% probably receive it who could really benefit from it.

Welcome to the News Hour. The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate today for the third

consecutive time, once again by a quarter of a point. Many are hoping the cut will have a clear

effect on interest rates, what banks and other lenders charge and what consumers pay. But the Fed also suggested there won't be as many interest rate cuts in the year ahead as it once planned.

Chairman Jerome Powell told reporters today's cut wasn't an easy decision because of higher inflation in recent months.

Today was a closer call, but we decided it was the right call because we thought it was

the best decision to foster achievement of both of our goals, maximum employment and

price stability.

We see the risks as two-sided, moving too slowly and needlessly undermine economic activity

in the labor market or move too quickly and needlessly undermine our progress on inflation.

So we're trying to steer between those two risks.

And on balance, we decided to go ahead with a further cut.

After the announcement, the markets plunged with the Dow falling more than 1,100 points,

the NASDAQ dropped more than 700 points.

The S&P 500 also ended sharply lower.

For more on today's decision and what could be ahead, we're joined now by Nick Temeros,

chief economics correspondent for the Wall Street Journal.

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