Fed Cuts Discount Rate to 5.75 Percent to Ease Credit Crunch
By Scott Lanman and Brendan Murray
Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve, in an unscheduled announcement, cut its discount rate and said it's prepared to take further actions to ``mitigate'' damage to the economy from the rout in global credit markets.
The central bank reduced the rate at which it makes direct loans to banks by 0.5 percentage point to 5.75 percent. Policy makers kept their benchmark federal funds rate target unchanged at 5.25 percent. It's the first reduction in borrowing costs between scheduled meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee since 2001 and Ben S. Bernanke's first as Fed chairman.