US announces emergency interest rate cut amid coronavirus dread

While the risk on the global economy is growing amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak, the United States Federal Reserve on March 3 led the charge in its response by announcing an emergency interest rate cut. In the official press release, the authorities said that “fundamentals of the US economy remain strong”. However, since COVID-19 poses evolving risks to economic activity, the US Federal Reserve made the announcement to maintain maximum employment and price stability goals. 

The target range for the federal funds has been lowered by 1/2 percentage point to 1-1/4 per cent. According to the official website, the US authorities are “closely monitoring” the developments and their implications for the outlook on the economy so that its tools can be used to act as appropriate support. This came just hours after the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers pledged to take action using “all appropriate policy tools”. However, according to reports, the stimulus by the US Fed was not enough to prevent Wall Street stocks from destabilizing as the coronavirus continued to spread to more countries. 

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Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that his administration has made engagement with local leaders a top priority as they play a 'frontline role in battling public health threats'. While addressing the local leaders at the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference, Trump further said that he and his administration are 'working very hard' to expedite the long process of developing a vaccine. Furthermore, his administration is moving with maximum speed to develop therapies so that people can recover as quickly as possible.  

Trump said, “We’re working very hard to expedite the long process of developing a vaccine. We’re also moving with maximum speed to develop therapies so that we can help people recover as quickly as possible”.

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120 confirmed cases in US

First detected in the city of Wuhan, in Hubei Province of China, the virus outbreak has now spread across more than 60 countries since December 2019. According to international media reports, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Washington state rose to 27 and more than 120 cases in the United States have been reported. The deadly virus has also claimed almost nine lives in the country. 

As per reports, the total number of confirmed cases within China has reportedly hit 80,270 and more than 91,000 worldwide. According to reports, the death toll in China has also surpassed 2,900 and the National Health Commission also confirmed more than 119 new cases. The death toll due to the deadly virus across the world also mounted to 3,123. 

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