Mubasher: The US Federal Reserve announced the third benchmark interest rate cut this year as the world’s biggest economy continued to slow down amid sluggish economic growth and trade feuds.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided on Wednesday to lower a quarter of a percentage point, its funds rate, which rules the cost of mortgages, credit cards and other borrowing, to the range of 1.5% to 1.75%.

Two voting members of the FOMC, namely Kansas City Fed President Esther George and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, voted against the decision.

Policymakers pointed to “solid” job gains and “strong pace” of household spending, yet they also acknowledged that business investment and exports growth continued at a weak tempo.

“The committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook as it assesses the appropriate path of the target range for the federal funds rate,” the FOMC statement said.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell hinted at a press conference following the policy decision that the US central bank would hold rates for the foreseeable future.

Powell also said that the current level would “likely remain appropriate,” citing the moderate economic outlook, a solid labour market and inflation rate hovering near 2%.

The Fed head also noted that the bank would not start rate hikes anytime soon.

“We would need to see a really significant move up in inflation [...] before we would consider raising rates to address inflation concerns,” he said.

By 6:49 am GMT, the US dollar index fell by 0.29% to 97.3580.