CHRONOLOGY: Key Fed-related events since August 7 FOMC meeting

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower the benchmark federal funds rate by at least a quarter percentage point at a meeting on Tuesday.

Following is a chronology of events since the last regularly scheduled meeting of the Fed's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee on August 7:

August 7: The FOMC holds the fed funds rate steady at 5.25 percent and says that while tightening credit conditions have increased downside risks facing the economy, inflation is still its predominant concern.

August 9: U.S. stocks tumble, with the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 indexes falling nearly 3 percent, after French bank BNP Paribas freezes three funds with U.S. subprime mortgage market exposure. The European Central Bank pumps 94.8 billion euros ($130.6 billion) into money markets, the Fed injects $24 billion and the Bank of Canada adds C$1.64 billion ($1.55 billion).

August 10: The Fed says it will pump money into the banking system to keep financial markets running normally. "The Federal Reserve will provide reserves as necessary to facilitate the orderly functioning of financial markets," it says before the markets open.

August 14, 15, 16: Stocks drop substantially over the course of three days and at one point the three major U.S. stock indexes fall more than 10 percent below 52-week highs before staging a comeback on the 16th.

August 17: The Fed cuts the discount rate, the rate it charges banks for loans, by a half-percentage point to 5.75 percent. In an accompanying statement, the FOMC says downside risks to growth have increased appreciably.

August 28: Minutes of the FOMC's August 7 meeting are released, showing FOMC participants recognized that further deterioration of financial conditions might warrant a policy response, but held to their firm focus on inflationary risks.

August 31: Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says in a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that the Fed is ready to take additional actions as needed to provide liquidity and promote market functioning. He says the Fed is monitoring the situation and is ready to act as needed to limit the effects of financial market turmoil on the broader economy.

September 7: The Labor Department reports U.S. employers cut 4,000 jobs in August, the first time in four years that monthly hiring contracted. The report also shows that hiring in June and July was weaker than earlier thought.

September 10: Fed speakers say the financial turmoil has increased risks to the economy, but their comments suggest they hold a range of views on the severity of concerns.

"Economic activity could be affected more severely in other sectors should heightened uncertainty lead to a broader pullback in housing and business spending," Fed Governor Frederic Mishkin says.

In contrast, Dallas Fed President Richard Fishers says, "Our economy appears to be weathering the storm thus far."