Welcome to the NewsHour. The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate today for the first time this year, dropping it by a quarter point to between 4 and 4.25%.

And the change could have an impact on many lending rates, including for mortgages, credit cards and auto loans, with the Fed also suggesting two more cuts by the end of the year.

Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Myron, the Trump appointee confirmed by the Senate just a day

before the policy meeting kicked off was the loan dissenter, choosing instead to call for a deeper

half-point cut. Today, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell explained why the rest of the committee opted for a smaller cut.

There wasn't widespread support at all for a 50 basis point cut today.

You know, I think we've done very large rate hikes and very large rate cuts in the last five years.

And you tend to do those at a time when you feel that policy is out of place and needs

to move quickly to a new place.

That's not at all what I feel certainly now.

I feel like our policy has been doing the right thing so far this year.

I think we were right to wait and see how tariffs and inflation and the labor market evolved.

For Insight, we're joined again tonight by Ron Insana, a contributor to CNBC and publisher

of the substack column, The Message of the Markets.

Ron, it's always great to see you.

So the Fed cut rates by a quarter point as expected, and Powell hinted at two more rates

to come. So what does all of this tell you about

what the state of the economy is? Well, I think the Fed Chair and the statement from the policy

setting committee was pretty clear. The labor market has weakened noticeably, and that appears

to be at least for now the bigger of the two risks facing

the economy, the labor market getting weaker or inflation getting stronger. Now, clearly,

inflation is above trend. It's above where the Fed wants it to be. It wants it closer to 2% rather

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