NEW YORK — U.S. stock indexes edged lower Wednesday after the Federal Reserve kicked off its efforts to prevent a recession with a bigger-than-usual cut to interest rates.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3% to pull 0.9% below its all-time high set in July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 103 points, or 0.2%, though it remains close to its record set on Monday. The Nasdaq composite lost 0.3%.

The momentous move by the Fed helps financial markets in two big ways. It eases the brakes off the economy, which has been slowing under the weight of higher rates, and it gives a boost to prices for all kinds of investments. Besides stocks, gold and bond prices had already rallied in recent months on expectations that cuts to rates were coming.

Because the move was so well telegraphed, and because markets had already climbed so much in anticipation of it, Wall Street’s reactions were relatively muted despite the Fed’s historic action. It marked the first cut to the federal funds rate in over four years, and it closed the door on a stretch where the Fed kept rates at a two-decade high to slow the economy enough to stifle the worst inflation in generations.

Now that inflation has eased significantly from its peak two summers ago and appears to be heading toward 2%, the Fed says it can turn more of its attention toward protecting the slowing job market and overall economy.

“The time to support the labor market is when it’s strong and not when you begin to see the layoffs,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said. “That’s the situation we’re in.”

The only question is how much the Fed will ultimately cut rates by to do so, which can prove to be a tricky balance.