Interest rate cut due today

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Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2001 | 10:58 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve already has staged its most aggressive reduction in interest rates in almost two decades, and many analysts believe the central bank isn't done yet.

Private economists were looking not only for a seventh rate cut at the end of the Fed's meeting today but also an eighth at the next Fed meeting Oct. 2.

The discussions within the Federal Open Market Committee, the panel of Fed board members and Fed regional bank presidents who set interest rate policies, was expected to result in a rate-cut announcement this afternoon after the Las Vegas Sun's deadline.

News of the decision will be posted on the Sun's website lasvegassun.com.

"It is still a very uncertain economic situation out there," said David Jones, chief economist at Aubrey G. Lanston & Co. in New York. "It is difficult at this moment for the Fed to know when the rebound is coming."