The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced its second consecutive quarter-point rate cut to bolster the flagging labor market, in a move that highlighted the growing division in its ranks.

Policymakers voted 10-2 in favor of lowering the bank's key lending rate to between 3.75 percent and 4.00 percent, the Fed said in a statement.

Opposed to the action were Fed governor Stephen Miran, who backed a bigger half-point cut, and Kansas City Fed president Jeff Schmid, who "preferred no change to the target range for the federal funds rate at this meeting," the Fed said.

"We continue to face two-sided risks," Powell told reporters at a press conference in Washington.

He added that during the Fed's discussions this week, "there were strongly differing views about how to proceed in December.

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