The U.S. Federal Reserve has announced its first interest rate cut in nine months, reducing its benchmark rate by a quarter of a percentage point. 

After a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed said in a statement Wednesday that it has decided to lower the target for its key lending rate to a new range of four to four-point-25 percent.

This marks the U.S. central bank's first rate cut in nine months following five consecutive freezes since it last trimmed rates by 25 basis points in December of last year. 

It also represents the first rate cut since the start of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term.

The committee projected two additional quarter-point rate cuts over the remainder of the year.

The latest cut narrows the gap between the Fed’s rate and that of the Bank of Korea to one-point-75 percentage point.