FED CUTS RATE 25 BPS

The US Federal Reserve lowered a key interest rate by a modest quarter percentage point in what may be the last of a series of cuts aimed at aiding an economy hit hard by a housing slump and credit market turmoil. The Fed’s action takes the bellwether federal funds rate to 2%, the lowest since December 2004. It was the seventh reduction in a campaign that has brought rates down by 3.25 percentage points since mid-September.