Federal Reserve cuts interest rates for second time this year

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut its benchmark interest rate for the second time this year.

The Fed cut the rate by a quarter of a percentage point. The federal funds rate is now at 3.75% to 4%.

The cut comes amid a roughly four-week-long partial federal government shutdown, and follows a Bureau of Labor Statistics report last week, the Consumer Price Index, that showed the costs of goods increased slightly, for the first time since January. 

The central bank last month cut its benchmark interest rate a quarter of a percentage point, its first such reduction this year, in an attempt to jump start a slowing labor market.