The wait is over. After more than a year of will-they-or-won’t-they, the Federal Reserve on Sept. 18 announced the first cut to its benchmark federal funds rate since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a 50-basis-point drop that Chairman Jerome Powell signaled is likely the first of many.
With inflation at its lowest level since early 2021, an uptick in the unemployment rate, and growing worries about softening consumer spending, the cut was anything but a surprise. But it does signal the start of a pivot in how the average investor should position her portfolio, as wealth planners and other experts tell Fortune.
