Image source, Reuters

"We know it is time to recalibrate our policy to something that is more appropriate given the progress on inflation and on employment moving to a more sustainable level so that the balance of risks are now even," Fed Chair Jerome Powell tells reporters, explaining the decision to cut key the US interest rate on Wednesday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has hailed "significant progress" in bringing down inflation.

"Our economy is strong overall," he says.

"The labour market has cooled. Inflation has eased.

"We are committed to maintaining our economy's strength by supporting maximum employment and returning inflation to our 2% goal."

Rate cuts sets up positive narrative on economy heading into electionpublished at 19:34 British Summer Time 18 September 2024

19:34 BST 18 September 2024

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

The Biden administration has been saying for months that the post-Covid surge in inflation is over. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve agreed.

Given that the US central bank, and its chair Jerome Powell, pride themselves on making decisions removed from political influences and considerations, the move to decisively lower a key lending rate offers an impartial affirmation that the inflation is now under control and that a top concern among economic policymakers is ensuring continued economic growth.

Although most Americans would not be able to pick Powell out of a crowd or explain the duties of the Fed, the interest rate change will shape media coverage of the US economy in the final two months of this presidential campaign.

The larger-than-expected cut could also trigger another stock market boom and will lead to substantive drops in interest rates – on credit cards, car loans and, indirectly, home mortgages – that will be felt by consumers across the nation.

All of that is good news for Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, given that voter concern about the economy have weighed on the electoral prospects for the vice-president and, before he stepped aside, President Joe Biden.

Brandon Livesay
Reporting from New York

After this big news of an interest rate cut, we will soon hear from the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

There will be a live stream of Powell's speech at the top of this page. He's expected to speak at 14:30 EDT (19:30 BST).

And if you are interested in more news from the world of business, check out our brand new newsletter from US business correspondent Michelle Fleury and the team in New York.

You can sign up to the newsletter here.

Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter

The Federal Reserve said it would lower the target for its key lending rate by 0.5 percentage points, to the range of 4.75%-5%.

The widely expected cut is bigger than many analysts had predicted just a week ago, and comes as officials have noted increasing concern about rising unemployment rates.

The move will bring relief to borrowers across the US, who have been facing interest rates hovering at the highest levels in more than two decades.

Officials signalled that further cuts were likely to follow before the end of the year.

The US has cut interest rates by half a point. It's the first cut in more than four years, a milestone moment for world's largest economy.

It signals a shift in priority from fighting inflation, to protecting jobs.

Stay with us, more to come.

Sam Cabral
Reporting from Washington DC

Image source, Getty Images

Now that the Kamala Harris speech is over, we are pivoting to watch what happens with US interest rates.

The US central bank is poised to lower interest rates for the first time in four years, that decision is expected any minute.

It's a decision that could have outsized implications for the US election.

Voters frequently rate the economy among the most significant factors in their vote, with Donald Trump seeking to blame Kamala Harris for high inflation.

To keep inflation at bay, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates. Its key interest rate has hovered around 5.3% for more than a year, the highest level since 2001, since jumping from near zero at the start of 2022.

Officials are, however, growing increasingly confident that inflation is headed back down to normal and that their attention must now turn to balancing out job market risks.

The anticipated rate cut will bring some welcome relief to borrowers - though we won't know exactly how big a cut the Fed will make until the announcement.

Analysts are divided about whether the Fed will announce a cut of 0.25 percentage points or go for a bigger, and more unusual, 0.5 percentage points cut.

Wednesday's meeting is expected to mark the start of a series of actions that will bring borrowing costs lower over the next year or so.

What is happening to grocery prices?published at 18:46 British Summer Time 18 September 2024

18:46 BST 18 September 2024

By Jake Horton

During her speech, Kamala Harris pledged to “continue to lower the cost of groceries”.

The Food at Home index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, external tracks the price of food bought from grocery stores.

Under the current administration, this peaked at 13.5% in the year to August 2022.

Since then, food price rises have slowed. In the year to August 2024, grocery prices rose 0.9%.

This is the tenth consecutive month it has been below 2%.

During Trump’s term in office, grocery price inflation remained generally low at around 1%, but rose to a peak of 5.6% in July 2020 during the Covid pandemic. At the end of his administration it stood at 3.5%.

Rachel Looker
Reporting from Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute

I just spoke with Salwa Yordi, an Austin, Texas resident who is from Venezuela.

She said she's leaving Harris's speech feeling "empowered".

"The fact that you can relate to her, it gives me chills," she said.

Yordi said Harris's speech was everything she wanted to hear as an American citizen and as a woman. She told me that the speech reassured her that Harris is fighting for what any woman wants.

"We're all in this together but as a woman, she's going to make history and that's what I would want my children to see," she told me.

Rachel Looker
Reporting from Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute

Image source, Getty Images

Toward the end of her speech, Harris began talking about abortion and pinned the blame on former President Donald Trump for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade.

Harris referenced the woman who died in Georgia from complications of taking an abortion pill. Her death occurred two weeks after Georgia's abortion ban was enacted.

"It's immoral," Harris said.

Harris's comments on abortion sparked reaction from the crowd who sighed and murmured in agreement with Harris

"I think we all know one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do," she said to loud cheers and applause from the crowd.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr / BBC News

Meanwhile, as Kamala Harris has just finished speaking to a group of leaders from the Latino community, I've just arrived at the White House a few blocks away - which is busier than usual on what might otherwise have been a fairly standard Wednesday at America's most famous address on Pennsylvania Ave.

According to guidance provided to reporters earlier, President Joe Biden received his daily intelligence briefing this morning.

His only other public event is a reception in honour of Hispanic Heritage Month to celebrate the contributions of the Latino community. That event is open only to pre-credentialed media.

The press area of the White House, however, is buzzing with activity ahead of a 1430EDT (1930BST) news briefing with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

She'll be joined by John Kirby, the White House's national security spokesman.

Much of the questioning, at least at the outset, is very likely to focus on the blasts that have struck Lebanon on Wednesday for the second day in a row.

Follow our Lebanon live page here for more updates on what's happening there, as we bring you all the US politics top lines here.

Rachel Looker
Reporting from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute

Harris referenced the debate last week against former President Donald Trump and the threat from Republicans to end the Affordable Care Act.

She has also spoken about the Project 2025 agenda - formed by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank - which she said will "pull our nation backward".

"We are not going back. Instead, together, we will chart a new way forward because ours is a fight for the future," she says.

That wraps up her speech, but we've got more to bring you on what she said shortly.

Rachel Looker
Reporting from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute

Harris is now touching on the economy, a top issue among voters ahead of November.

She touted her down payment assistance proposal, which would give first-time home buyers $25,000.

Harris also discussed lowering the cost of health care and capping the cost of prescription medication.

"I know where I come from... we have to put the middle class first," she says.

"We have to put working families first - understanding their dreams, their desires and their ambitions deserve to be invested in and it will benefit everyone," she adds.

Rachel Looker
Reporting from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute

Image source, Reuters

Harris took the stage to cheers and claps - even in the overflow room. Several attendees took photos and videos of the TV screen showing the livestream feed.

Her speech has begun on familiar note with the vice-president talking about her background as a prosecutor protecting "those who are most vulnerable". She referenced her mother who instilled in her the importance of acting when seeing injustices.

"(My mother) would say, 'Do something about it.' And that's how I was raised. Do something about it. And those values have guided me my entire career," she said.

Rachel Looker
Reporting from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute

As we're waiting for Harris to take the stage, I spoke with one attendee, Leena Berauy, who is from Peru and said she's very excited to hear from the vice-president.

"I imagine that she'll talk about the importance of the Latino community for the United States," she told me.

Berauy referenced Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who she said views the Latino community as a problem in the US.

"Our community is really important from the employees to the companies to the entrepreneurs, politicians, musicians - I think we are rich, this community," she said.

Mike Hills
Visual Journalist

Harris is ahead of Trump in the national polling averages, with the chart above showing the latest figures rounded to the nearest whole number.

In the months leading up to Biden’s decision to drop out, polls consistently showed him trailing former President Trump. But the race tightened when Harris hit the campaign trail and she developed a small lead that she has maintained since.

The two candidates went head to head in a televised debate in Pennsylvania on 10 September that just over 67 million people tuned in to watch. A couple of snap polls released immediately after the debate found that most viewers thought Harris had been the better performer.

A majority of national polls carried out since then suggest that Harris has made some small gains and while her polling average hasn’t moved much, her lead increased slightly from 2.5 percentage points on the day of the debate to 2.9 points a week later.

That marginal boost was mostly down to Trump’s numbers though. His average had been rising ahead of the debate, but it fell by half a percentage point in the week afterwards.

You can see those small changes in the poll tracker chart below, with the trend lines showing how the averages have changed and the dots showing the individual poll results for each candidate.

Rachel Looker
Reporting from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute

I'm watching Harris's address from an overflow room at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in downtown DC.

A lengthy line of attendees snaked through the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Centre - all hoping they would make the cut to access the main room before it reached capacity.

Many were turned away and are now spilling out of one of two overflow rooms.

Brandon Livesay
Reporting from New York

Vice-President Kamala Harris is moments away from addressing the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in Washington DC. It's a key voter demographic for her election campaign.

You will be able to watch her speech live at the top of this page.

And my colleague Rachel Looker is at the event and will bring us further updates.

Stay tuned.

Some media reports claimed earlier today that law enforcement officials discovered explosives inside a car near the Long Island site where Donald Trump will hold a campaign rally.

Those reports are "unfounded", according to Nassau County police.

"There is a person who is being questioned who may have been training a bomb detection dog near the site," police commissioner Patrick Ryder said in a statement shared on social media.

"The individual with the bomb dog falsely reported explosives being found and that individual is currently being detained by police."

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his weekly US Election Unspun newsletter.

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