The Federal Reserve today likely will cut interest rates for the 11th time this year — this time, most experts think, by a quarter of a percentage point.

        The Fed is expected to trim its target funds rate — the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans — to 1.75 percent, the lowest in four decades. It also could cut the discount rate — the rate that the Fed charges banks — a quarter-point to 1.25 percent.

        Action by the Fed to slash rates would be continued good news for U.S. consumers and businesses. It would mean lower borrowing costs on credit cards, adjustable rate mortgages and business loans.

        But for savers, especially those with certificates of deposit and money market accounts, the cut means lower returns.

        The Fed already has cut its benchmark rate 4.5 percentage points since January. Today would mark the first time in at least 30 years that the Fed has cut interest rates 11 times in a year.

        “The Fed will cut by 25 basis points — guaranteed,” said Gregory Hess, an economist at Oberlin College. “They will implicitly signal that they are finished with this round of cuts, though they will still maintain their bias toward economic weakness.”

        The action has pushed the prime lending rate — the rate that banks charge their most creditworthy customers — to 5 percent, the lowest since June 1972. The prime rate was at 9.5 percent at the beginning of the year.

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