The U.S. Federal Reserve began a two-day meeting on Jan. 30, 2001, amid widespread conviction it will cut interest rates by another half a percentage point to pump life into the world's largest economy.While the meeting started at 9 a.m. (1400 GMT) Jan. 30, an announcement on interest rates is not due out until about 2:15 p.m. (1915 GMT) Jan. 31. On the Fed's agenda for Jan. 30 is a discussion on how to manage the U.S. central bank's securities portfolio as the government works to pay down the