The Federal Reserve is prepared to cut a key interest rate for the 10th time this year in an effort to cushion the economic blow from the terrorist attacks.
Against a backdrop of plunging consumer confidence and soaring unemployment, economists worry that the economic picture might get a lot worse before it gets better.
A big fear is that consumers, whose spending accounts for two-thirds of all economic activity, will continue to cut back as the job market deteriorates, further undercutting a weak economy.
"The danger from a continued decline and a negative spiral is very substantial. The Fed needs to break that cycle," said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Banc of America Capital Management.
Most economists believe Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues will order another cut to a key interest rate -- called the federal funds rate -- when they meet Tuesday. The Fed's chief policy-making group, the Federal Open Market Committee, is expected to announce its decision in the afternoon.
Many economists are predicting a half-point reduction, which would mark the third cut of that size since the Sept. 11 attacks. But some economists believe it will be a more moderate, quarter-point move.
The Fed at its last meeting on Oct. 2 cut the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge on overnight loans, to 2.5 percent, the lowest level since May 1962.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique