In an emergency action to stave off a feared recession the Fed has cut interest rates by 3/4 of a point, the largest one-time cut in recent memory.

Markets have been going down all over the world over recession worries and now the Fed has taken action.

The Fed said it was cutting the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other on overnight loans, to 3.5 percent, down by three-fourths of a percentage point from 4.25 percent.

The Fed action was the most dramatic signal it can send that it is concerned about a potential recession in the United States. It marked the biggest one-day move by the central bank in recent memory.

The Fed decision was taken during an emergency telephone conference with Fed officials on Monday night. Those discussions occurred after global financial markets had plunged Monday as investors grew more concerned about the possibility that the United States, the world’s largest economy, could be headed into a recession.

In a brief statement, the Fed said it had decided to cut the federal funds rate “in view of a weakening of the economic outlook and increasing downside risks to growth.”

Only time will tell whether it’s the right thing at the right time. I’m not an economist so I don’t know.