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Good morning, I'm Taylor Wilson and today is Thursday September 19th, 2024. This is the

excellent. Today the Fed has lowered its key interest rate. What's that mean for the economy?

Plus the latest from Lebanon after more handheld device attacks and the

Teamsters won't endorse Harris or Trump. What could that mean

for the election? The Federal Reserve lowered its key interest rate by a half

percentage point yesterday moving ahead with its first rate cut in four years. interest rate

cut in four years.

I spoke with USA Today, economics and jobs reporter

Paul Davidson to help put the move in context.

Paul, thanks for hopping on the excerpt today.

No problem, Taylor, thank you.

So Paul, what did the Federal Reserve decide on its key interest rate yesterday?

Yeah, the Federal Reserve decided to cut its key interest rate by a relatively large half a percentage

point.

It had a choice between a half percentage point and a quarter point basically, and it decided

to go big.

It went with the larger cut. It's the first rate cut in four years.

Its key rate affects rates throughout the economy, such as mortgage rates, credit card rates,

auto loan rates, corporate bond rates.

So it was a pretty significant, even historic decision.

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