News Wrap: Biden says interest rate cut is vindication of his economic policies

In our news wrap Thursday, President Biden said the Fed’s interest rate cut is a vindication of his economic policies, Wall Street celebrated the cut with stocks surging to new highs and Republican nominee for Governor of North Carolina Mark Robinson says he won’t quit the race despite a report about comments he allegedly made on a pornographic website more than a decade ago.
Geoff Bennett:
We start today’s other headlines with the impact of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut.
President Biden said today he expects rates to come down even further. That’s as the state of the economy, he argued, has reached a turning point during his presidency. During that speech to the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., today, the president also said he considers the Fed’s cut a vindication of his economic policies, but added that there’s more work to be done.
Joe Biden, President of the United States: So, let’s be clear. The Fed’s low interest rates isn’t a declaration of victory. It’s a declaration of progress. It’s a signal we have entered a new phase of our economy and our recovery.
Geoff Bennett:
Investors on Wall Street celebrated the Fed rate cut today with stocks surging to new highs. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped more than 500 points to close above 42000 for the first time ever. The Nasdaq surged 440 points. The S&P 500 also spiked to a new closing high.
Earlier in the day, we also got a mixed batch of new economic data, positive news from the job market, but troubles in the housing sector. The numbers of Americans filing for initial unemployment benefits fell by 12,000 last week compared to the week before. Overall, new claims hit a four-month low, which signals ongoing strength in the labor market.
Separately, existing home sales dropped 2.5 percent in August to their lowest level in 10 months as home prices remain near record highs.
The Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina says he won’t quit the race despite a shocking report about comments he allegedly made on a pornographic Web site more than a decade ago. According to CNN, Mark Robinson called himself a Black Nazi on a message board back in 2010. He also voiced support for bringing back slavery and made comments that were — quote — ” gratuitously sexual and lewd in nature” between 2008 and 2012.
Before CNN’s publication, Robinson posted a video to social media saying the words were not his and that he is, in his words, staying in this race. Robinson currently serves as lieutenant governor of North Carolina, a state fiercely contested by both presidential candidates.
The death toll from the devastating flooding across Central Europe has risen to 24 across the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, and Austria. And heavy rains and flooding have now moved to Northern Italy. More than 1,000 people were evacuated. Trains were suspended and schools were shut across the affected areas. Italian officials urged residents to be patient during the recovery.
Nello Musumeci, Italian Minister of Civil Protection (through interpreter): Let’s hope the bad weather will mitigate in the next few hours. But we can’t have big expectations because it’s such a fragile and vulnerable territory. It is always exposed to natural attacks.
Geoff Bennett:
The same region was also hit by rain and mudslides last year, which killed 17 people and caused roughly $9 billion worth of damage.
A Hong Kong court handed down the first two sentences under a new national security law. One man was given 14 months in prison for wearing a shirt with a protest slogan, and another got 10 months for writing pro-independence messages on bus seats. The offending T-shirt had direct links to the anti-government protests that swept the city back in 2019. The new law took effect in March and imposes harsher punishments for seditious acts. Critics say it limits freedom of expression.