From The Times
December 17, 2008

Analysts say Federal Reserve has fired all shots in its armoury

Ian King, Deputy Business Editor

Shares soared on Wall Street last night, but the dollar tumbled after the US Federal Reserve’s shock decision effectively to cut American official interest rates to zero.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped by more than 359.61 points, or 4.2 per cent, as markets hailed the US central bank’s landmark move to cut its key Fed Funds rate from a previous record low of 1 per cent to a target range of zero to 0.25 per cent.

The broader-based S&P 500 index of US blue chip shares also surged by more than 5 per cent as investors cheered the Fed’s decision to combine last night’s historic cut in rates with a raft of other ground-breaking steps to combat the economic slump.

The Fed fulfilled predictions that it would announce extraordinary moves to bolster America’s economy through so-called “quantitative easingâ€