EMERGENCY ACTION

Fed Slashes Interest Rates to Zero Amid Coronavirus Crisis

The Federal Reserve will keep the new rates in place “until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events.”

The Federal Reserve announced on Sunday that it will lower interest rates in an effort to boost the U.S. economy amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. The benchmark for the U.S. interest rate was cut from a range of one to 1.25 percent to a range of zero to 0.25 percent. The Fed said it will also launch a “quantitative easing” program that will involve purchasing at least $500 billion in Treasury bonds and $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities. In a statement, the Fed said it is “prepared to use its full range of tools to support the flow of credit to households and businesses and thereby promote its maximum employment and price stability goals.”