The most notable statement made by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell yesterday:-
The economy is strong, and the U.S. labor market is solid and resilient, yet inflation remains somewhat high.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has decided to reduce the pace of federal budget cuts.
Recent data indicates a slowdown in consumer spending.
The state of uncertainty affects economic expectations.
The labor market has not been and is not a cause of inflationary pressures.
Inflation expectations have risen recently, and tariffs are behind this increase.
The long-term inflation expectation is 2%, which is close to the inflation target set by the Fed.
The new political administration is implementing many policy changes, and the net impact of these policies is what matters to us and to U.S. fiscal policy.
The state of uncertainty accompanying political variables and economic impact is high.
I am very focused on separating financial signals from all the noise being stirred up.
If the economy remains strong, we can maintain a tight policy for a longer period.
If we detect a slowdown in the labor market, we will take the necessary fiscal actions and ease monetary policy as the situation requires.
We have seen some signs of tightening in the financial markets. Market indicators suggest that the amount of reserves is abundant.
The Fed's goals must remain balanced, which is a strong challenge, but currently, things are not perfectly balanced.
Experts have raised their recession forecasts, but it remains a weak prediction.
Inflation expectations from the University of Michigan are out of the ordinary.
It is difficult to determine when we can describe our expectations as reliable; I believe we will reach that stage, but we need some time.
The reason we expect cuts in interest rates despite negative inflation expectations is the presence of some forecasts indicating that economic growth will be weaker, which are two opposing matters. So far, we see the economy as strong, and we will update our expectations based on the data.