Fed's Jerome Powell: "Not far" from confidence needed to cut rates
#TrendingTopic #RatesMarket Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday the U.S. central bank was "not far" from gaining the confidence it needs in falling inflation to begin cutting interest rates.
"I think we are in the right place," Powell said of the current stance of monetary policy in a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee. "We are waiting to become more confident that inflation is moving sustainably down to 2%. When we do get that confidence, and we’re not far from it, it will be appropriate to begin to dial back the level of restriction so that we don’t drive the economy into recession.”
The comment showed Powell's faith that recent higher-than-expected inflation readings and other strong economic data won't interrupt the ongoing decline in price pressures that took root last year.
The Fed chair has been reluctant to declare the inflation battle finished, and cautioned in testimony to the Senate panel, as he did Wednesday before the House Financial Services Committee, that further progress back to the Fed's 2% target was not assured.
The most recent data showed headline inflation, as measured by the Fed's preferred Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, at 2.4%, with a related measure of underlying inflation at a slightly higher 2.8%.
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