US Central Bank Moves to Ease Credit, Protect Economy (1/2)

A listener from Indonesia named Efendy asks why the Federal Reserve is so important and how it works. This week offered a good example.

On Tuesday the committee lowered its target for the federal funds rate to four and three-quarters percent. This rate is what banks pay other banks to borrow money overnight. It was the first cut in four years.Major banks including Bank of America, Wachovia and Wells Fargo soon followed with cuts in their prime rate. This is what banks charge their best customers.

Financial markets expected a rate cut from the Fed. But the size -- fifty basis points, or half a percentage point -- was double what many people expected. And it persuaded many that the Fed is more concerned about the possibility of a recession than about inflation.

Such concerns rose earlier this month on news that in August the economy lost jobs for the first time in four years. That added to worries about the housing finance crisis.

参考译文：

一位来自印尼名叫艾丰提的听众来电询问，为什么美国联邦储备委员会如此重要及它是如何运作的。这周为大家提供一个好示例。

美联储委员会于周二下调了联邦基金目标利率至4.75％ 。这个利率（联邦基金利率）是指银行之间相互借贷的日息。这是四年来的第一次利率大幅下调。包括美国银行，瓦乔维亚银行和富国银行在内的各大银行也紧随着降低了他们的头等客户贷款最低利率。

金融市场预期到美联储会下调利息，但是50个基点/0.5个百分点的降息幅度则大大出乎许多人的预料。这个降幅还说明了美联储，比起通货膨胀，更担心经济后退的可能性。

这个担忧在此月初就已经在新闻里显露出来了，称今年八月是四年来经济第一次遭受冲击。也增加了住宅信贷危机的担忧。