The Federal Reserve cut a key U.S. interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point this morning, responding to a broad global sell-off of stocks and a growing sense of crisis in financial markets with a surprise policy move.
[...]

In a press release accompanying announcement of the rate cut, the Fed said it had taken the move because “incoming information” showed that a downturn in the U.S. housing market was growing worse, unemployment had begun to rise, and the overall economy was weakening.