FED SLICES INTEREST RATES AGAIN.(MAIN)

Byline: RICHARD W. STEVENSON New York Times

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve cut interest rates again by a quarter of a percentage point Tuesday to help keep a gradual economic slowdown from turning into a recession, but the central bank signaled it might hold off on further reductions in coming months.

The cut was the third in seven weeks, and like the previous two it was driven by the concern that the global financial crisis was making it hard for companies to raise money, threatening the long expansion in the United States.

In reducing rates but suggesting that investors should not count on further cuts, the Federal Reserve was walking a line between calming Wall Street's fears of global …