Business
US Fed Rate Cut: Jerome Powell Reduces Interest Rates By Another 25 Bps
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US Fed Meeting Outcome: In a second consecutive rate cut, the US Federal Reserve on October 29 reduced its key interest rates by another 25 basis points (bps) to 3.75%-4.00%.
US Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate decision.
US Fed Rate Cut, US Fed Meeting Latest News: The US Federal Reserve on October 29 reduced its key interest rates by another 25 basis points (bps) to 3.75%-4.00%, in line with market expectations. This is the second consecutive rate cut following the last reduction in September 2025, when the US central bank announced a similar 25 bps reduction after a gap of nine months.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) approved the rate cut with a 10-2 majority. Governor Stephen Miran dissented, arguing for a steeper half-point reduction, while Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid also voted against the move, favouring no rate cut at all.
“In support of its goals and in light of the shift in the balance of risks, the Committee decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/4 percentage point to 3-3/4 to 4 percent,” the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said in a statement on October 29.
It added that 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.
“Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace. Job gains have slowed this year, and the unemployment rate has edged up but remained low through August; more recent indicators are consistent with these developments. Inflation has moved up since earlier in the year and remains somewhat elevated,” the FOMC stated.
US Fed to Halt Quantitative Tightening from December 1
Alongside the rate cut, the Federal Reserve announced that it will end the reduction of its asset holdings, a process known as quantitative tightening, effective December 1.
The post-meeting statement did not provide any direction on what the committee’s plans are for December.
The next US Fed meeting will take place on December 9-10, and the decision will be announced on December 10.
In September, the US central bank’s officials expected two more cuts this year, according to the ‘dot plot’.
The Fed had reduced borrowing costs three times last year till December 2024. But, it then put any further cuts on hold to evaluate the impact of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on the economy. The US central bank kept its key interest rates unchanged at 4.25%-4.50% for five times in a row till the previous July 2025 policy review.
Currently, CPI inflation in the US stands at 3%, which was cooler than expected by most analysts. The US Fed targets to bring in the retail inflation rate at 2%.
US Fed Rate Cut: How Will It Impact Indian Markets?
Currently, the Nifty futures (GIFT Nifty) are trading nearly 90 points lower at 26,166, suggesting a gap-down opening on Thursday.
For Indian markets, the US Fed rate cut is positive for sectors like IT, pharma, and other export-oriented industries.
Haris is Deputy News Editor (Business) at news18.com. He writes on various issues related to personal finance, markets, economy and companies. Having over a decade of experience in financial journalism, Haris h…Read More
Haris is Deputy News Editor (Business) at news18.com. He writes on various issues related to personal finance, markets, economy and companies. Having over a decade of experience in financial journalism, Haris h… Read More
October 29, 2025, 23:32 IST
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Fiona Irving,South East environment correspondentand
Craig Buchan,South East
BBCThe boss of South East Water has said the company is too dependant on individual facilities after a six-day supply failure affected thousands of people in Kent.
About 24,000 properties in and around Tunbridge Wells had no or low pressure tap water from 29 November until supplies returned to most on 4 December. For the next nine days, residents were told to boil the restored tap water before consumption.
A disinfection problem at Pembury Water Treatment Works had caused the failure but there was no evidence supply became infected, said South East Water.
The water company’s chief executive, David Hinton, said the firm was “just too reliant in some areas on one asset”.
Mr Hinton was speaking to the BBC earlier in the week and said the company wants to “do more” at a separate works at Bewl Water reservoir, near Wadhurst in East Sussex, and spend £30m on expanding output capacity.
The proposal would give the company the ability to “rapidly fill the area of Tunbridge Wells, for example, as soon as we see any issue”, said Mr Hinton.
He said this would allow “extra resilience should any other challenges hit any other treatment works” without further draining the reservoir.
“It’s not only for Tunbridge Wells, it’s for the wider parts of Kent as well,” added the chief executive, who has faced calls to resign over the supply issues.
South East Water was one of five companies to contest regulator Ofwat’s latest price controls, which already allowed it to increase an average annual bill from £232 to £274 by 2030.
The firms argued the 36% average price increase for customers in England over the next five years was not enough to deliver better infrastructure.
The Competition and Markets Authority has provisionally agreed that South East Water can increase bills by an extra 4%, pending a final decision in 2026.
Mr Hinton said the Bewl Water proposal was a reason why the company was asking the competition regulator to allow it to raise more money from customers.
South East Water suspects “something to do with the level” of water at its Pembury reservoir contributed to the supply failure but the firm wants to “do a full investigation”, he said.
The company introduced hosepipe restrictions in July for Kent and Sussex customers after dry weather earlier in 2025.
The Drinking Water Inspectorate said it was investigating the Tunbridge Wells loss of supply incident.
Business
GST notice: UltraTech Cement gets Rs 782 crore notice; company says it will contest – The Times of India
UltraTech Cement on Saturday said it has received a demand notice of Rs 782.2 crore from GST authorities and plans to challenge the order before the appropriate forum, according to PTI.In a regulatory filing, the Aditya Birla Group company said it is reviewing the order and considering all legal options. “The Company is reviewing the Order, considering all legal options, and accordingly would be contesting the demand,” UltraTech Cement said, PTI quoted.The demand pertains to the period 2018-19 to 2022-23 and has been raised on account of alleged short payment of Goods and Services Tax (GST), improper utilisation of Input Tax Credit (ITC) and related matters, the company said.UltraTech added that the order was passed “without due consideration of the Company’s submissions”.According to the filing, the order upholds a tax liability of Rs 3,90,95,58,194, along with applicable interest on the tax demand, additional interest of Rs 27,68,289, and a penalty of Rs 3,90,95,58,194.The company said the order was issued by the Joint Commissioner, Central Goods and Services Tax and Central Excise, Patna, on Friday.UltraTech Cement is India’s largest cement manufacturer, with a production capacity nearing 200 million tonnes per annum.
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The value of the gold reserves increased by $758 million to $107.741 billion during the week ended December 12, as per the RBI’s latest ‘Weekly Statistical Supplement’ data.
India’s Latest Forex Reserves.
India’s forex reserves (forex) jumped $1.689 billion to $688.949 billion during the week ended December 12, according to the latest RBI data. The value of the gold reserves increased by $758 million to $107.741 billion during the week.
In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had increased by $1.033 billion to $687.26 billion.
For the week ended December 12, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by $906 million to $557.787 billion, according to the data.
Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effects of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units, such as the euro, pound, and yen, held in the foreign exchange reserves.
The special drawing rights (SDRs) surged by $14 million to $18.745 billion, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s latest ‘Weekly Statistical Supplement’ data.
India’s reserve position with the IMF rose $11 million to $4.686 billion in the reporting week, according to the apex bank’s data.
The price of the safe-haven asset gold has been on a sharp uptrend over recent months, perhaps amid heightened global uncertainties and robust investment demand.
After the latest monetary policy review meeting, the RBI had said that the country’s foreign exchange reserves were sufficient to cover more than 11 months of merchandise imports. Overall, India’s external sector remains resilient, and the RBI is confident it can comfortably meet external financing requirements.
In 2023, India added around $58 billion to its foreign exchange reserves, contrasting with a cumulative decline of $71 billion in 2022. In 2024, reserves rose by just over $20 billion. So far in 2025, the forex kitty has increased by about $47-48 billion, according to data.
Foreign exchange reserves, or FX reserves, are assets held by a nation’s central bank or monetary authority, primarily in reserve currencies such as the US dollar, with smaller portions in the Euro, Japanese Yen, and Pound Sterling.
The RBI often intervenes by managing liquidity, including selling dollars, to prevent a steep depreciation of the rupee. The RBI strategically buys dollars when the Rupee is strong and sells when it weakens.
The Indian rupee has been under pressure for a host of reasons. It has already weakened by nearly 6 per cent this year on a cumulative basis.
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December 20, 2025, 08:16 IST
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