Kansas City business expands as Fed cuts rates

KSHB 41 reporter Abby Dodge covers consumer issues, personal budgeting and everyday spending. Share your story idea with Abby.

The Federal Reserve made its second rate cut this year. The quarter of a percent cut brings the federal rate to 4.5-4.75%.

This move, which happened at the Fed’s regularly scheduled November meeting, was expected.

The goal is a “soft landing” to bring down inflation without causing a recession.

“We’re on a path to a more neutral stance, and that’s very much what we’re on. That has not changed at all since September,” said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Local businesses welcomed the news of federal rate cuts. Some said it’s encouraging them to expand their businesses.

“It would be nice to have people booking, all my barbers booked up solid,” said The Bevel Barber Studio owner Casie Murff.

Murff started his own business during the pandemic. It was a small studio, just for him.

“I didn’t want to have a full staff and have everybody hired and worry about are my people going to be able to satisfy their family income,” Murff said. “I just wanted to start small and build the things I could build now.”

His new location will have more chairs for more barbers. But Murff had to find a way to make it happen financially.

He applied for grants, took out micro-loans, and recently a conventional loan to make this dream a reality.

As interest rates tick down, he’s already thinking about what’s next.

“This is growing. It’s big,” he said. “The proof is in the pudding to where we will have a location here, locations there. Let them see the value it’s going to have.”

The Fed’s meeting in December is the next opportunity for another rate cut.

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