Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell asserts not ready to cut interest rates

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has reiterated that the central bank is not ready to start cutting interest rates, noting that he needs to see a little bit more data before taking any action. “If the economy evolves broadly as expected, it will likely be appropriate to begin dialling back policy restraint at some point this year,” Powell said in prepared remarks for a congressional hearing before the House Financial Services Committee.

Federal Reserve keeps interest rates unchanged, hints at September cut

The US Federal Reserve has left interest rates unchanged at a 22-year high of 5.25% to 5.5%, as inflation continues to cool, hinting that a rate cut might come as soon as September.

“Inflation has eased over the past year but remains somewhat elevated. In recent months, there has been some further progress toward the Committee’s 2 per cent inflation objective,” the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Fed’s policy-setting body, said Wednesday, July 31, in a statement after a two-day policy meeting.

Federal Reserve keeps interest rates unchanged

The Federal Reserve in its January 31 meeting voted to leave the key interest rate unchanged at 5.25-5.50 per cent, keeping the policy rate unchanged for the fourth straight time. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in its statement said that the recent indicators suggested that economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace. Job gains have moderated since early last year but remained strong, and the unemployment rate remained low. Inflation has eased over the past year but remains elevated.

Partha Chakraborty Op-Ed: We are not AAA OK

Partha Chakraborty writes: The Fitch ratings? We did see this coming, I will argue. In these pages we lampooned supply chain debacles that started inflationary pressures, railed against rising deficit and government profligacy predicting they could force a fall from grace for the US dollar, advocated in favor of using debt-ceiling drama as a lever to bring wayward spending down; last week we discussed how the high-minded — and well intentioned — efforts at crafting a US “industrial policy” might not mean that much. Every single driver Fitch mentioned was flagged as a concern, if not a three-alarm-bell issue.