The industrial countries came to a happy meeting of minds last week about the direction in which interest rates should go: down. For months Treasury Secretary James Baker has been exhorting other governments to stoke their economies by lowering their rates. One reason: healthy growth in other countries will boost U.S. exports. Last week Baker got some results. The West German central bank lowered its discount rate, the amount it charges on loans to other financial institutions, from 4% to 3.5%. Japan then announced a similar cut, its second since January. Hours later, the Federal Reserve Board dropped the U.S. discount...
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