Fed Rate Cut May Be Last for Some Time

The Federal Open Market Committee's 25-basis-point cut in the target federal funds rate Wednesday afternoon may be its last for some time, according to the Federal Reserve Board's monetary policy-making panel."The committee judges that, after this action, the upside risks to inflation roughly balance the downside risks to growth," the FOMC said in a statement that observers such as RBS Greenwich Capital chief economist Stephen Stanley indicated was the "one big surprise" in the committee's action. One Fed governor, Thomas M. Hoenig, said he would like to have kept rates unchanged and voted against the decrease.