SPY - Jerome Powell Tells Congress The Fed Could Cut Rates If Either Of These Things Happen: 'Inflation Has A Certain Momentum' | Benzinga
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell painted a very clear picture of what needs to happen before the central bank lowers rates during the second day of testimony in front of Congress.
What To Know: Powell kicked off his semiannual testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. He began his second day of testimony in front of the House Financial Services Committee at 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday as part of the Fed’s semi-annual monetary policy report.
Investors are paying close attention to Powell’s comments, looking for clues about the central bank’s current policy outlook. Powell stressed he would not be “sending any signals” about the timing of any potential policy adjustments, but he laid out what needs to happen for him to support a rate cut very clearly.
“What we’ve said is that we want to be more confident, we want to have greater confidence — and that means more good inflation readings — that inflation is moving sustainably down to 2%, greater confidence that that is the case,” Powell said.
Although inflation is part of the story, Powell reminded ...