Anchor: The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday slashed its main interest rate by 25 basis points, the first such cut in over a decade. In South Korea, the governor of the nation's central bank described the Fed chair's dismissal of additional cuts as below market expectations.
Celina Yoon has more.

Report: The U.S. Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that it slashed its key rate by a quarter-point to a target range of two percent to two-point-25 percent.

The Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee(FOMC) made the decision following a two-day meeting, citing "implications of global developments for the economic outlook as well as muted inflation pressures."

The FOMC added that the rate cut, the first since December 2008, was driven by signs of economic slowdown, highlighting weak corporate investment despite increasing household spending. 

Despite the rate cut, stocks fell in New York and elsewhere as Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested that additional reductions may not immediately follow as markets had hoped. 

He said in a news conference that "it's not the beginning of a long series of rate cuts." 

Bank of Korea Governor Lee Ju-yeol, who last month helped direct South Korea’s central bank to cut its own key rate by 25 basis points to one-point-five percent, said Powell's remarks were less dovish than what the market expected.

He said the South Korean central bank is taking note that the Fed pledged to take measures to keep the U.S. economy growing. 

He added that South Korea may consider further reductions to its own key rate if economic conditions worsen.

Lee said Japan’s widely expected removal of South Korea from a shortlist of countries that enjoy streamlined trade procedures with Japan is a huge risk, but noted that the delisting alone will not determine the direction of the nation’s monetary policy. 
Celina Yoon, KBS World Radio News.