Will the Federal Reserve cut interest rates fast enough to deliver a 'soft landing'?

WASHINGTON -- American consumers and home buyers, business people and political leaders have been waiting for months for what the Federal Reserve is poised to announce this week: That it's cutting its key interest rate from a two-decade peak.It's likely to be just the first in a series of rate cuts that should make borrowing more affordable now that the Fed has deemed high inflation to be all but defeated.Consider Kelly Mardis, who owns Marcel Painting in Tempe, Arizona.About a quarter of Mardis' business comes from real estate agents who are prepping homes for sale or from new home buyers.

Customer queries, he recalls, quickly dropped almost as soon as the Fed started jacking up interest rates in March 2022 — and then kept raising rates through July 2023.As the housing market contracted, Mardis had to lay off about half his staff of 30.

It was the worst dry spell he had experienced in 14 years.After the Fed begins cutting rates on Wednesday, Mardis envisions brighter times ahead.Typically, a succession of Fed rate cuts leads over time to lower borrowing costs for things like mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and business loans.

“I'm 100% sure it would make a difference,” Mardis said.“I'm looking forward to it.” At the same time, plenty of uncertainty still surrounds this week's Fed meeting.How much will the policymakers decide to reduce their benchmark rate, now at 5.3%? By a traditional quarter-point or by an unusually large half-point?Will they keep loosening credit at their subsequent meetings in November and December and into 2025? Will lower borrowing costs take effect in time to bolster an economy that is still growing at a solid pace but is clearly showing cracks? Chair Jerome Powell emphasized in a speech last month in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that the Fed is prepared to cut rates to support the job market and achieve a notoriously difficult “soft landing.” That is when the central bank manages to curb inflation without tipping the economy...