The central bank cut rates for the third time in 2025 as limited government data clouds economic outlook.The United States Federal Reserve has cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, marking the last rate cut of the year.On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.50 – 3.75 percent as US job growth has appeared to stall.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list“Job gains have slowed this year, and the unemployment rate has edged up through September. More recent indicators are consistent with these developments. Inflation has moved up since earlier in the year and remains somewhat elevated,” the central bank said in a statement.The cut was widely expected with an 89 percent probability of a rate cut, according to the CME Fed Watch, a tracker which monitors the likelihood of monetary policy decisions.The decision came as the central bank faced gaps in many sets of government data used to assess the state of the US economy. During the record-long 43-day government shutdown, key agencies, including the Department of Labor, were unable to gather information needed for their reports.Among them were import and export prices, the producer price index report, as well state employment and unemployment. The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Monday said that it would not release numbers from October because the agency did not have enough resources to collect information.The last top-line data that the central bank had to make its interest rate decision was from September. At the time, the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.4 percent and the co …
