Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's decision in December to raise the federal funds target by 25 basis points, to 2.25-2.50 percent, and to continue raising rates at least twice in the new year, upset financial markets. The Dow and S&P each dropped at least 8.7 percent, logging their worst December declines since 1931.
It looked like the "Powell put" was about to end. However, as criticism of the Fed's tighter money policy mounted, Powell surprised markets early in the new year. On January 4, he told several thousand economists at the American Economic Association meeting