Article: Fed expected to cut interest rates this week; To defer deflation, the federal funds rate is likely to fall to a level last seen in the 1950s

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Reserve is prepared this week to drop a key interest rate to its lowest level since President Eisenhower's second term.

The central bank would be aiming to stave off an economic threat absent since the Great Depression - deflation, a prolonged and widespread decline in prices.

Policy-makers have mounted a virtuoso performance over the past six weeks to influence financial markets without even cutting rates. That should allay any worries that the Fed is in danger of running out of ammunition to stimulate the economy with interest rates already so low.

Analysts refer to the talking campaign as the Fed's "open mouth" policy, using comments by Chairman Alan ...

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