Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Wednesday, September 18th, and I'm your host, Kim Khan. This is a special Fed decision

edition of Wall Street Lunch. Go big or go home. The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 50 basis

points to a range of 4.75 to 5 percent ending a historic period of monetary

tightening. The FONNC has signaled a cut was coming, but the choice of a half-point

cut over a quarter point sent a message that the

Central Bank thinks that the inflation spike that started with the pandemic is

under control. The focus is now on shoring up a faltering jobs market.

The vote wasn't unanimous though. For the first

time since 2005 a Fed governor dissented, Michelle Bowman voting for a quarter point reduction.

And now the question is whether the cut was big because Fed Sherman Powell and

company are alarmed about the economy or whether they are just catching up on

adjusting to a new landscape of disinflation and weak payrolls. In its

statement the Fed said it judges that the risk

to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance and

Powell later said in the press conference that today's move was a good strong

start to recalibrating fed policy to neutral.

Recalibrating was a key word throughout the presser, and he warned that people shouldn't see

this 50-point cut as a new pace of easing. He stressed the economy was still strong while

trying to balance that a half-point cut was justified, noting that the time to

support the labor market is when it's strong. But while the Fed came through with easing that was almost

unthinkable in the summer, the market reaction was, well, what have you done for me lately?

...