[originaltext] The United States central bank has cut its main interest rate

The United States central bank has cut its main interest rate to the lowest level on record. But instead of cutting it by a fixed rate, it has opted for a target range, reducing it from 1% to between 0 and 0.25%. U.S. stock markets reacted positively. The New York Dow Jones Index closed up more than 4%.  Our Washington correspondent Kevin Conolly reports.
    It is a dramatic move from the Federal Reserve Board designed to signal both to Wall Street and to Main Street (6-1)the American authorities are doing eveuthing they can to fight back for the economy slides into recession. Interest rates in the US have now been cut by a full five percentage points in just over a year. (6-2) The plan is to make borrowing so cheap that liquidity returns to the economy and restores confidence and consumption levels. The outlook for the American economy remains bleak and the Fed says it’s likely that rates will remain exceptionally low for some time.