US Fed cuts rate for the first time in more than a decade: Top highlights

Fed chair Jerome Powell, later in the presser, said that the rate cut has been in the pipeline for a while and doesn't necessarily portend a long cycle of rate cuts

As widely expected, the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut the interest rates by a quarter percentage point or 0.25 per cent for the first time since 2008 to insulate the economy from a global slowdown and escalating trade tensions. The short-term benchmark rate now stands between 2 per cent and 2.25 per cent. 

The US central bank also left the door open for more rate cuts in the coming months. However, Fed chair Jerome Powell, later in the presser, said that the Wednesday's rate cut has been in the pipeline for a while and doesn't necessarily portend a long