Fed Primed to Cut Key Interest Rate
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feds, Interest Rate Cut March 17th, 2008WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is primed to aggressively cut a key interest rate even lower on Tuesday, racing to contain spreading financial fires that threaten an economic meltdown.
President Bush declared “we’re in challenging times” and huddled Monday with top economic officials — including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox.
On Wall Street investors were still skittish. The Dow Jones industrials, in an erratic session, closed up 21.16 points, after having plunged nearly 200 points early in the day. Other stock indexes fell.
With the quick collapse of the investment bank Bear Stearns, fears are mounting about whether other financial companies may fall. Many believe the country has already sunk into recession and all the problems — if not contained — will deepen and prolong the pain.
“The Fed is on high alert — something you don’t see but once every quarter century; maybe, in this case, since the Great Depression. This is a very unusual period,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com…
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