"Gold Finance reports that Nick Timiraos, the 'Fed mouthpiece,' has confirmed that the Federal Reserve has voted to lower interest rates by 50 basis points (BP), marking the first rate cut since 2020 and a bold start to the easing cycle. Eleven out of twelve Fed officials supported the decision, bringing the benchmark federal funds rate to a range of 4.75% to 5%. The quarterly forecasts released Wednesday show that most officials expect to cut rates by at least 25BP at both the November and December meetings. The decision marks a firm move by the Fed into a new phase: attempting to prevent the aggressive rate increases of the past year (which pushed borrowing costs to their highest level in two decades) from further weakening the US labor market."