White House National Economic Council chair "Fed decision, a first step toward lower rates"

Kevin Hassett, chair of the White House National Economic Council (NEC), supported the Federal Reserve's (Fed) decision to cut interest rates.

Hassett said in an interview with CNBC on the 18th (local time) that "(a 0.25 percentage point cut in the policy rate) was likely a prudent decision." Hassett added, "A 0.25 percentage point cut represented fairly broad consensus and is a good first step toward much lower rates," and, "The key is to move toward the goal slowly but steadily while watching the data."

Earlier, the Fed cut the policy rate by 0.25 percentage point the previous day (17th). It was the Fed's first rate cut in nine months since December last year.

The Fed presented the median year-end policy rate forecast at 3.6%. This is a 0.3 percentage point downward revision from the 3.9% announced in June. Considering this, it appears that two more 0.25 percentage point rate cuts will take place within the year.