As common as rate changes are in election years, brand new rate-reduction cycles - a series of cuts that follow either one or more recent rate increases or a pause of rate changes of at least five months - are less frequently begun on the doorstep of an election.

Powell rejects accusations that timing of rate cut is political and adds US labor market is ‘at a strong place’

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell called the U.S. economy “strong overall” in a news conference on Sept. 18.

The Fed cut interest rates by half a percentage point yesterday—the first cut in four years and double the 25 basis points that many expected from the central bank. And yet the markets dipped down, perhaps because of a perceived disconnect between Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s sunny prognosis that “the economy is in good shape” and the committee’s bold action that suggests a possible recession on the horizon.