Growth effects: Powell addresses the House Committee on Financial Services on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Fed chairman is reluctant to tell lawmakers the central bank will cut interest rates soon. — AP
NEW YORK: Federal Reserve (Fed) chair Jerome Powell had plenty of opportunities to tell lawmakers definitively the central bank will cut interest rates soon. He didn’t take any of them.
Instead, Powell reiterated his view that policymakers need not rush to adjust policy, a counter to President Donald Trump’s demands and recent statements from Fed governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman that signalled the two would be open to lowering rates as soon as July.
