We concluded that this was the right thing for the economy and the people we serve,” the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, said, referring to the central bank’s decision to cut interest rates by half a point.

A more aggressive interest rate cut would suggest deeper worries that the job market is buckling under the Fed’s continued fight against inflation.

Would Fed chair Jerome Powell opt for a measured, quarter percentage point change in rates, as he had for the last year? Or would he go big with a double-sized cut, signaling that the economy might be deteriorating faster than expected?