Powell speech: 50 bps move is a commitment to us not falling behind

Fed Chair Jerome Powell explains the decision to cut the policy rate, federal funds rate, by 50 basis points to the range of 4.75%-5% after the September meeting and responds to questions in the post-meeting press conference.

Key quotes:

“Housing market is frozen in part due to higher rates.”

“As rates come home, people will start to move more, and that’s already happening.”

“As rates come down, people will sell more.”

“Real issue with housing is lack of supply.”

“Fed can not fix issues with housing supply constraints.”

“As we normalize rates, we do think housing market will normalize.”

“Supply question is for the market and for government to solve.”

“Our 50 bps move today is a commitment to us not falling behind.”

“We might well have cut in July if we had the jobs data at that point.”

“Hard to say how much more mortgage rates will fall; that will depend on economy.”