After weeks and months of speculation, the Federal Reserve officially decided to cut interest rates by half a point on Wednesday.

"This decision reflects our growing confidence that with an appropriate recalibration of our policy stance, strength in the labor market can be maintained in a context of moderate growth and inflation moving sustainably down to 2%," said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

It's the first cut by the fed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic four years ago. The move paves the way for lower borrowing costs on items like mortgages and credit cards, but that won't happen immediately.

It also marks a major milestone for the central bank, which kept rates at a more than two-decade high for more than a year. With interest rates still high, some see this as a potential light at the end of the tunnel.

But not everyone is convinced you will see immediate results. They also think the motivation for this cut may be connected to the presidential election that is only weeks away.

"So the drop is half of a percent, we call that 50 basis points, and the thought is that can bring mortgage rates down, bring car loans down, help the consumer a little bit, hopefully without rekindling inflation," said George Conboy, chairman of Brighton Securities in Rochester. "We don't know for sure what goes on inside those Fed meetings, but there have been reasonable expectations that there was a political motivation."

All but one Federal Reserve official voted in favor of the cut. While Powell did say the goal is to get to that 2%, he also said the interest rate would not fall at a consistent pace.

The Fed’s next policy meeting is Nov. 6-7, immediately after the presidential election.