The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday decided to lower the target range for the federal funds interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.5 to 3.75 percent, marking its third rate cut this year.

华盛顿电——美国联邦储备委员会周三决定将联邦基金利率目标区间下调25个基点至3.5%至3.75%，这是美联储今年第三次降息。

The latest move was widely anticipated, making it the third rate cut in a row since the Federal Open Market Committee monetary policy meeting in September.

此举早有预兆，自联邦公开市场委员会9月货币政策会议以来，这已是连续第三次降息。

"Uncertainty about the economic outlook remains elevated. The Committee is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate and judges that downside risks to employment rose in recent months," the Fed said in a statement.

美联储在声明中表示：“经济前景的不确定性依然较高。委员会密切关注其双重使命中就业和物价稳定两方面的风险，并判断近几个月就业面临的下行风险有所上升。”

The statement also noted moderate economic expansion, a higher unemployment rate, elevated inflation and more recent indicators consistent with those developments.

该声明还指出，经济呈现温和扩张态势，失业率上升，通胀率攀升，近期各项指标也印证了这些发展态势。

The slowdown in job creation and rise of unemployment rate in recent months prompted the Federal Reserve to resume cutting rates in September, though inflation remained near 1 percentage point higher than the Fed's target of 2 percent.

近几个月就业增长放缓和失业率上升，促使美联储于9月重启降息，尽管通胀率仍比美联储2%的目标高出近1个百分点。

Data recently issued by Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) showed that US private companies cut 32,000 workers in November, defying economists' expectations for an increase of 40,000 for the month.

自动数据处理公司（ADP）最新数据显示，美国私营企业11月裁员3.2万人，与经济学家预期当月将增加4万个就业岗位的预测相悖。

Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees lost 120,000 jobs in November, while mid-sized and large establishments continued to add jobs in the period, according to ADP.

ADP数据显示，11月员工少于50人的小型企业裁减了12万个岗位，而中型和大型企业在此期间持续增加就业岗位。

US policymakers face extraordinary challenges as the 43-day federal government shutdown not only worsened the job markets but also disrupted the collection of macroeconomic data.

美国政策制定者正面临前所未有的挑战，因为持续43天的联邦政府停摆不仅加剧了就业市场困境，还导致宏观经济数据收集工作陷入停滞。

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics is scheduled to release the employment data for November on Dec 16, and the unemployment data for October will not be available due to the partial government shutdown in October and early November.

美国劳工统计局定于12月16日发布11月就业数据，由于10月至11月初政府部分停摆，10月失业数据将无法公布。