Fed Cuts Key Rate To Record Low

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve entered a new era on Tuesday, lowering its benchmark interest rate virtually to zero and declaring that it would now fight the recession by pumping out vast amounts of money to businesses and consumers through an expanding array of new lending programs.

Going further than expected, the central bank cut its target for the overnight federal funds rate to a range of zero to 0.25 percent and brought the United States to the zero-rate policies that Japan used for years in its own fight against deflation
Cllick on the Title Link to see the chart and link to read the entire story

This is the rate in which banks charge each other when they lend money to one another. The problem has been that they are very hesitant about lending any money to one another, which in turn effects businesses mostly.

Federal Reserve Board Reduces Rates By 1/2 Point

This is The second 1/2 point reduction in the same month. This means that the Fed Funds Rate went from 1.5% to 1%. This is the rate that banks charge on overnight loans. The last time the Feds Funds Rate was this low was back in 2003 -2004. Th last time this rate was lower was in 1958. This will hopefully cause banks to start lending to one another. To read the entire article and reason why The Fed did what it did today click on the Title of this post. In short This rate matters because it is meant to stimulate the economy! If banks will not lend to one another or give a loan to a business, the market comes to a halt. Sometimes it is important to talk about these "Snoring Issues", both to educate those that dont understand how truely important the Fed Funds Rate is to our economy, as well as making this blog an informative source of information for those that visit our blog. Most Real Estate Agents dont get this indepth about different interests rates and how they effect our economy and therefore the Real Estate Market Nationwide. Now then to clarify things a little more: Whenever the Fed Fund Rate is lowered does NOT mean that Intrest Rates for things like HOMES goes down. They could, but there is NO guarantee that this could happen. Infact, rates for homes could even go up.