news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

on january 11, 2022, in washington, d.c., the capital of the united states, federal reserve chairman powell attended a hearing of the senate banking committee. image source: cfp

reporter cui puyu

reporter cui puyu

at a monetary policy meeting that ended early thursday morning beijing time, the federal reserve announced a 50 basis point cut in the benchmark federal funds rate range to 4.75%-5.0% to prevent the job market from cooling down too quickly.

this is the first rate cut by the federal reserve in four and a half years. on march 15, 2020, eastern time, the federal reserve slashed the federal funds rate by 100 basis points to 0-0.25% in response to the economic shutdown caused by the spread of the new crown epidemic. two years later, in response to rare inflationary pressures, the federal reserve raised interest rates 11 times in a row, with a cumulative increase of 525 basis points. from july 2023 until this rate cut, the benchmark federal funds rate has remained at 5.25%-5.5%, the highest level since 2001.

this time, the federal open market committee (fomc) passed a resolution to cut interest rates by 50 basis points with an 11 to 1 vote. among the 12 voting members, only federal reserve board governor michelle bowman supported a 25 basis point rate cut.