Driving the news: The U.S. Federal Reserve slash interest rates for the third time this year on Wednesday to the lowest range in almost three years.
The details: The new benchmark rate declined 0.25 percentage points to 3.50%-3.75%. However, the decision was not unanimous. Three Fed policymakers dissented.
For context: The Fed is caught between a weakening job market and inflation that is still hovering above the 2% target.
What they’re saying: “These increasingly divergent economic realities, often referred to as a ‘K-shaped’ economy in which one set of sectors, industries or individuals continue to gain traction while the other stagnates, make the Fed’s job harder, as a policy that boosts one group may inadvertently drag down the other,” wrote Brent Schutte, chief investment officer of the Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company, ahead of the decision/
And these conditions are creating more internal division over how to balance competing risks.
Fed chair Jerome Powell said the central bank needs time to see how this year's three cuts shake out before making another move.
However, President Trump and other senior officials are pressuring the Fed to move faster.
Looking ahead: The Fed's next meeting is in January, and Powell made it clear they'll be watching the data closely.
"We are well-positioned to wait to see how the economy evolves," he told reporters.
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