Fed cuts interest rate by half-point in major shift after two years of high rates – September 18, 2024

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• The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by an unusually large half-point, a dramatic shift after more than two years of high rates that helped tame inflation but made borrowing more expensive for consumers.
• The U.N. General Assembly strongly supported a nonbinding Palestinian resolution demanding that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in Gaza and the occupied West Bank within a year.
• The House rejected Speaker Mike Johnson’s proposal that would have linked temporary federal funding with a mandate for states to require proof of citizenship for voter registration.
• Democratic and Republican senators traded barbs in hearing on hate crimes
• The U.S. Justice Department is suing the owner and manager of the cargo ship that caused the Baltimore bridge collapse earlier this year.
• The city of Oakland initiated closure of significant homeless encampment near Martin Luther King Jr. Way

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