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Fed slashes rates in emergency coronavirus move

16 March 2020 01:58 (UTC +04:00)

With panic buying on Main Street and fear-driven sell-offs on Wall Street, the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates to near zero on Sunday in another emergency move to help shore up the U.S. economy amid the rapidly escalating global coronavirus pandemic, APA reports quoting Reuters.

For the second time since the financial crisis of 2008, the Fed cut rates at an emergency meeting, aiming for a target range of 0% to 0.25% to help put a floor under a rapidly disintegrating global economy.

U.S. President Donald Trump called the move “terrific” and “very good news.”

Americans are waking up to a new reality as coronavirus spreads, with store shelves stripped bare of essentials, schools closed and millions of jobs in jeopardy as businesses temporarily shut their doors.

“We’re learning from watching other countries,” Trump said. “It’s a very contagious virus ... but it’s something that we have tremendous control of.”