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.

In the end, the Fed decided to go big. The Federal Reserve lowered its key interest rate by a hefty half percentage point Wednesday, moving ahead with its first rate cut in four years and cheering markets that expected an emphatic move amid a softening jobs picture.

The Fed’s dot plot is a chart that records each Fed official’s projection for the central bank’s key short-term interest rate. The dot plot is updated every three months and is meant to provide insight into the Fed’s future rate decisions,