Powell: Rate cuts looming, but Fed persistent in avoiding inflation risks

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell quickly summed up where the central bank stands.

“We believe our policy rate is likely at its peak for this tightening cycle and that, if the economy evolves broadly as expected, it will likely be appropriate to begin dialing back policy restraint at some point this year,” Powell said at the start of his press conference.

“But the economy has surprised forecasters in many ways since the pandemic,” added Powell. So, the Fed wants to be certain inflation is slowing toward its 2% goal before easing, he stressed.

In January, the Federal Reserve held rates unchanged, but stated that it would not be appropriate to decrease rates until it had “greater confidence” that inflation was approaching its 2% target. Fed Chair Jerome Powell will hold a 2:30 p.m. press conference to discuss the latest move.

According to Powell, the ‘healing’ of the supply chain and labour market has contributed to lower inflation. In addition to tighter monetary policy, the present disinflationary process has been aided by “the healing of supply chains and the labour market,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stated at a press conference following the meeting.

Powell noted that the latter two variables “is really different from other cycles,” resulting in the “mixture” that has allowed inflation to fall so much.