The Federal Reserve has cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point and indicated it will steadily lower borrowing costs for the rest of this year as it responds to concerns about weakness in the job market.

Only new governor Stephen Miran, who joined the Fed on Tuesday and is on leave as the head of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers, dissented in favour of a half-percentage-point cut.

The rate cut, along with projections showing two more quarter-percentage-point reductions are anticipated at the remaining two policy meetings this year, indicate Fed officials have begun to downplay the risk that the administration's voluble trade policies will stoke persistent inflation, and are now more concerned about weakening growth and the likelihood of rising unemployment.

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