With Wednesday's cut, the central bank has lowered its main borrowing rate by three-quarters of a percentage point since July, putting it between 1.5 percent and 1.75 percent.

That stimulus is intended to aid the economy in the face of a contracting manufacturing sector and weak business investment — the result of extended trade tensions and slowing growth in other countries. Inflation has also persistently come in below the Fed’s 2 percent target, which further feeds the case for lowering rates.

But still-healthy consumer spending and a 50-year-low unemployment rate suggest the economy isn’t in dire need of intervention.

The Fed’s recent moves will take some time to ripple out into the broader economy, and the central bank will want to monitor how much its actions have helped; new GDP data released Wednesday morning showed the U.S. economy grew by only 1.9 percent in the third quarter.

“The Committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook as it assesses the appropriate path” for its main borrowing rate, it said.

Kansas City Fed President Esther George and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, two of the central bank’s 10 voting members, dissented, preferring to keep rates steady. Rosengren in particular has expressed worry that lower rates could feed risky asset bubbles.

