Federal Reserve officials have cut a key interest rate by a half percentage point, in an attempt to shore up the economy as the spread of the coronavirus threatens to slow growth.
"We saw a risk to the outlook for the economy and chose to act," Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told reporters."Over the course of the last couple of weeks, we've seen a broader spread of the virus. We've seen it begin to spread a bit in the United States. But for us what really matters of course is not the epidemiology but the risk to the economy."
Powell acknowledged that a rate cut is only one part of the response required by the outbreak and that primary responsibility will rest with doctors, nurses and public health officials."We do recognize that a rate cut will not reduce the rate of infection," Powell said."It won't fix a broken supply chain. We get that. We don't think we have all the answers. But we do believe that our action will provide a meaningful boost to the economy.
The move comes at a time of growing concern about the impact the virus is having on the global economy. Companies around the world are shutting down production and canceling travel in response.
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