The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by a quarter-point Wednesday and projected it would do so twice more this year as concern grows at the central bank about the health of the nation’s labor market.
The move is the Fed’s first cut since December and lowered its short-term rate to about 4.1%, down from 4.3%.
Fed officials, led by Chair Jerome Powell, had kept their rate unchanged this year as they evaluated the impact of tariffs, tighter immigration enforcement, and other Trump administration policies on inflation and the economy.
Just one Fed policymaker dissented from the decision: Stephen Miran, who President Donald Trump appointed and was confirmed by the Senate in a rushed vote late Monday just hours before the meeting began. Miran preferred a larger half-point cut, but Powell told reporters there wasn’t “very much support” for the bigger-size cut among Fed officials.