thanks for watching it's a modest cut interest rates that has some scratching their heads the u.s. federal reserve has lowered rates by a quarter percent despite strong economic indicators in the country officials pointed to softening business investment and muted inflation it's been a long time since the last rate cut almost 11 years in fact that was december 2008 on the tail end of federal reserve efforts to prime financial markets during the recession it's only gone up since then in line with the recovering and eventually booming american economy now compare that to the european central bank where the deposit rate has long been below 0 and where policymakers are still cutting and that's putting even more pressure on the fed as rate cuts devalue the euro against the dollar affecting trade balances and then there's the pressure from u.s. president donald trump he's repeatedly pushed for a larger interest rate cut in fact saying today that fed chairman jerome powell had