The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Thursday by a quarter-point in response to the steady decline in the once-high inflation that had angered Americans and helped drive Donald Trump’s presidential election victory this week. The rate cut follows a larger half-point reduction in September, and it reflects the Fed’s renewed focus on supporting the job market as well as fighting inflation, which now barely exceeds the central bank’s 2% target. Thursday's move reduces the Fed’s benchmark rate to about 4.6%, down from a four-decade high of 5.3% before September's meeting. The Fed had kept its rate that high for more than a year to fight the worst inflation streak in four decades. Annual inflation has since fallen from a 9.1% peak in mid-2022 to a 3 1/2-year low of 2.4% in September. Asked at a news conference how Trump's election might affect the Fed's policymaking, Chair Jerome Powell said that "in the near term, the election will have no effects on our (interest rate) decisions.” But Trump’s election, beyond its economic consequences, has raised the specter of meddling by the White House in the Fed’s policy decisions. Trump has proclaimed that as president, he should have a voice in the central bank’s interest rate decisions. The Fed has long guarded its role as an independent institution able to make difficult decisions about borrowing rates, free from political interference. Yet during his previous term in the White House, Trump publicly attacked Powell after the Fed raised rates to fight inflation, and he may do so again. MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/nation-world/federal-reserve-set-to-cut-interst-rates-again/507-57cb413e-a4a7-4d48-a87e-892a57c15b74