"Fed mouthpiece" Nick Timiraos: The Federal Reserve voted to cut interest rates by 50 basis points, marking the first rate cut since 2020 and a bold start to easing. Eleven of the 12 Fed voters supported the decision, lowering the benchmark federal funds rate to a range of 4.75% to 5%. Quarterly forecasts released on Wednesday show that most officials expect to cut rates by at least 25 basis points at their November and December meetings. The decision puts the Fed firmly on a new path: trying to prevent the aggressive rate increases of the past year (which have pushed borrowing costs to their highest in two decades) from further weakening the US labor market. (Golden Ten)