Looks like the Federal Reserve doesn’t like the latest jobs reports any better than others do — at least others outside the White House. In an 11-1 vote, the Fed cut its lending rate by 50 basis points rather than the usual 25, pushing it back down to between 4.45-5.0%. That matches up with expectations over the last few days by economists hoping that the Fed would take more aggressive action to prevent a collapse in job creation.
This won’t be the last action from the Fed this year, and we could see another full 100 basis points cut before next summer:
Eleven of 12 Fed voters backed the cut, which will bring the benchmark federal-funds rate to a range between 4.75% and 5%. Quarterly projections released Wednesday showed a narrow majority of officials penciled in cuts that would lower rates by at least a quarter point each at meetings in November and December.
Fed Chair Jerome…
