Federal reserve cuts interest rates

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- Central banks in Europe, Canada and the United States cut key lending rates in tandem Wednesday morning, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced.

The Federal Open Market Committee elected to lower its target rate by 50 basis points to 1.5 percent, while the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, Sveriges Riksbank in Sweden and the Swiss National Bank also lowered their rates. The Bank of Japan "expresses its strong support of these policy actions," the Fed statement said.

The Fed statement said, "the intensification of financial market turmoil is likely to exert additional restraint on spending, partly by further reducing the ability of households and businesses to obtain credit."

The Fed's policy committee also voted to reduce the discount rate by 50-basis points to 1.75 percent.

The ECB moved to reduce its rate to 3.75 percent. The Bank of England cut its key lending rate by a half-point to 4.5 percent. The Swiss National Bank cut its rate to 2.5 percent, while Sveriges Riksbank cut its rate to 4.25 percent.

The Bank of Canada announced it lowered is overnight rate target to 2.5 percent.