From The New York Times:
The Federal Reserve gave investors what they wanted today, lowering short-term rates for the second time in two months.
But it quietly warned Wall Street not to expected to assume that more reductions are ahead.
The move, to reduce short-term rates by a quarter point to 4.5 percent, was aimed at preventing the meltdown in housing from crippling the rest of the economy. But the vote was not unanimous, reflecting disagreement among policymakers about the risks that confront the economy.
Investors were generally pleased, and stocks were up modestly after briefly giving up most of their gains for the day immediately after the announcement. But Treasury prices fell, reflecting some concerns that lower interest rates could stoke inflation. Oil prices surged nearly 4 percent and gold futures were up about 1 percent. The dollar modestly weakened against other major currencies.
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i think that the feds really needed to do this maybe not for actual reasons but for the psyche of the buying public. i think they might have over tighten the rates and were they are now might be where they should be. i think though the problem with forecloseres is what is scaring people from buying i think the feds need to sit the mortgage companies and the industry as whole to help those it hurt and to change its policies so that this never happens again because otherwise there are many more foreclosuers coming when record number of loans are about to recast. they, meaning feds, compnaies, and industry as whole, need to get together quick.
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