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Fed cuts interest rates for the second time this year


The Federal Reserve on Wednesday lowered interest rates for the second time this year in a continued bid to prevent unemployment from surging.

Fed officials voted for another quarter-point rate cut, lowering their benchmark lending rate to a range between 3.75% and 4%, the lowest in three years.

It is the first time since the Fed’s rate-setting committee was established in the 1930s that officials have set monetary policy while lacking an entire month of crucial government employment data due to a government shutdown.

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