Updated September 17, 2025 at 2:28 PM EDT

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point Wednesday in an effort to prop up the sagging U.S. job market. The move comes as Fed policymakers face mounting pressure from the White House.

As widely expected, the central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate to a range of 4% to 4.25%. That was the first such cut in nine months amid signs of a substantial slowdown in the pace of hiring. Fed policymakers also signaled that on average they expect to cut rates by an additional half-percentage point by the end of this year.

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President Trump wants much lower interest rates, and he has been waging a high-pressure campaign to exert more control over the central bank — bypassing safeguards designed to insulate the Fed

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