Fed Chair Jerome Powell mentioned that inflation, which had been declining towards the 2% target, is no longer following the expected trajectory.

The Fed now anticipates a longer wait before becoming comfortable that inflation will resume its decline.

As a result, the hold on the benchmark policy rate may continue for an extended period.

The Federal Reserve, led by Chairman Powell, maintains that the current interest rate is sufficient to control inflation, despite concerns about rising prices.

The Fed's preferred inflation measure increased by 2.7% annually in March.

Powell acknowledged that inflation is still high and further progress in reducing it is uncertain.

He expressed lower confidence in his forecast for inflation to decrease throughout the year.

The text discusses the uncertainty surrounding interest rate cuts this year from the Federal Reserve, as expressed by Chairman Jerome Powell.

Powell indicated that if inflation proves more persistent than expected and the labor market remains strong but inflation is not increasing, the Fed may hold off on rate cuts.

He also mentioned that there are paths to not cutting and paths to cutting, depending on the data.

Despite this uncertainty, Powell's characterization of rate hikes as "unlikely" was seen as a positive sign for investors concerned about a hawkish Fed chief, leading to higher US stock and bond prices.

The Fed had previously raised its benchmark policy rate by 5.25 percentage points in 2022 and 2023 to combat inflation.

The Fed's remarks by Powell on Wednesday were seen as less hawkish than expected by analysts, indicating that interest rate cuts may begin in September instead of later in the year.

The Fed's policy statement kept its economic assessment and guidance unchanged, noting that inflation has eased, and reiterated that it does not expect to reduce interest rates until it has more confidence in inflation moving towards 2%.

Investors responded by increasing bets on rate cuts in September.

The Federal Reserve (Fed) left interest rates unchanged in its latest meeting, expressing concern over the lack of progress towards its 2% inflation objective.

The first months of 2024 have not helped the cause, and the Fed announced it will slow down the pace of balance sheet reduction starting in June.

Only $25 billion in Treasury bonds will run off each month, compared to the current $60 billion, while mortgage-backed securities will continue to run off by up to $35 billion monthly.

This step is intended to prevent a shortage of reserves in the financial system, as experienced during the Fed's last round of quantitative tightening in 2019.

The Federal Reserve (Fed) announced plans to begin reducing its monthly bond purchases, which could slightly improve financial conditions despite the central bank's efforts to keep the economy in check.

The Fed maintained its positive outlook on the economy, noting solid growth, strong job gains, and a low unemployment rate.

While first-quarter GDP growth was weak at 1.6 percent, the Fed emphasized the 3.1 percent increase in private domestic demand as a better indicator of the economy's health.

Powell dismissed concerns of stagflation, stating that current conditions do not resemble the late 1970s when prices were rising rapidly alongside high unemployment.

The text summarizes remarks made by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell during an interview.

Powell expressed confidence in the current economic growth, which he described as solid, and reported that inflation was below 3 percent.

He also dismissed concerns about a potential economic recession (stagflation) or high inflation (inflation).