Highlights From the Fed; Powell Continues His Fight Against Inflation

Gather around everyone — as we dissect Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s words to see when the pain will end Fed will stop raising rates.

Yesterday, the Fed raised its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points. The majority of US officials are now expecting one more rate hike to come.

But the juicy insights came from JPOW’s news conference:

• “The process of getting inflation back down to 2% has a long way to go and is likely to be bumpy.”
• “Without price stability, the economy does not work for anyone.”
• “Deposit flows in the banking system have stabilized,” and “the banking system is strong.”

Market’s reaction to his comments in a nutshell:

What investors liked: The Fed considered pausing but decided against it after banks stabilized this week. Important: “considered.”

What investors didn’t like: When asked about rate cuts this year, Powell said there won’t be any with the economy’s current trajectory. And they’ll even raise rates higher if needed.