The Fed­eral Reserve yes­ter­day cut interest rates by a quarter point for the first time this year, as the US cent­ral bank sig­nalled fur­ther reduc­tions on the back of labour mar­ket weak­ness.

The rate-set­ting Fed­eral Open Mar­ket Com­mit­tee lowered the bench­mark fed­eral funds tar­get range to 4 per cent to 4.25 per cent, match­ing Wall Street expect­a­tions.

The decision was not unan­im­ous, with Stephen Miran, a Don­ald Trump ally sworn in to the Fed board on Tues­day, back­ing a big­ger, half-point, cut.

“The labour mar­ket is really cool­ing off,” Fed chief Jay Pow­ell said, point­ing to data show­ing that hir­ing had fallen in recent months even as the job­less rate has remained low. Pow­ell added: “The risks of higher and more per­sist­ent infla­tion have become a little less.”

Eco­nomic pro­jec­tions released along­side the Fed decision showed most of the bank’s top lead­ers expect at least two fur­ther cuts by the end of this year. The 10-year Treas­ury yield, which moves with growth and infla­tion expect­a­tions, fell to its low­est since April, down 0.03 per­cent­age points 3.999 per cent.