The Federal Reserve decided to lower interest rates again today by a half a percentage point and signaled that the door remains open for more cuts.

The Fed also announced that it was cutting its discount rate, the interest it charges on direct loans it makes to banks, by a half-point to 3.5%.

With last week's emergency rate cut, the Fed has slashed interest rates by 1.25% in just seven trading days. Gold prices were initially stronger after the announcement but cooled off to $919.20 an ounce near the end of the trading day.

- luke