Fed cuts interest rates

The Federal Reserve announced its first interest rate cut in a decade Wednesday. The quarter-point decrease will affect the cost of many loans for homes and businesses.

Is the economy in trouble? Not yet, and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said he wants to keep it that way. He told reporters this rate cut is about sustaining growth amid economic uncertainty caused by things like the trade war with China, low inflation, and weaker global markets. He also said the Fed is not planning a long series of rate cuts, as it did in the Great Recession of the late 2000s.