As we reported as Bitcoinsistemi.com, the FED announced that it left interest rates constant, as expected. Following this development, which is not a surprise, FED President Jerome Powell will make a press statement and then take questions from journalists.
Since the decision to keep the interest rate constant is an event that has been mentioned many times by analysts and is considered certain, the markets are focusing on what Jerome Powell will say.
Here are the important highlights from Jerome Powell's speech:
- The economy has made significant progress, inflation has decreased significantly.
- But continued progress is not assured and the path forward is uncertain.
- Inflation has fallen significantly but remains very high.
- GDP was supported by strong consumer demand as well as improving supply chains.
- Risks to the FED achieving its goals are becoming more balanced.
- High interest rates have put pressure on businesses' fixed income investments.
- Labor demand still exceeds labor supply, GDP forecasts have been revised higher due to data on labor supply.
- FOMC participants expect the rebalancing in the labor market to continue.
- Inflation expectations remain well stabilized.
- Our policy rate is probably at its peak.
- We are likely to cut interest rates at some point this year, but the outlook is uncertain and we remain cautious about the risks.
- We are prepared to keep interest rates high for longer if necessary.
- The first interest rate cut will be consequential.
- January's CPI and PPI figures were quite high, but this may be due to seasonal adjustments.
- February was also high, but not excessively so.
- These January and February inflation figures did not strengthen our confidence.
- We won't overreact to these two months of data; nor will we ignore it.
- I don't think we know whether rates will be higher in the long run.
- My instinct is that interest rates will not return to the very low levels we have seen before. But there is tremendous uncertainty on this issue.
- According to most people, there is still a high probability that we will cut interest rates this year, but this depends on the data.
- I'm looking for data that confirms last year's low inflation data.
- In the labor market, if we're getting a lot of supply and demand, we could potentially have a larger economy where inflationary pressures don't increase.
- We tend to see slightly steeper inflation in the first half of the year.
- We don't know if this is just a bump in the inflation path or something more.
- We need to take time to consider whether recent inflation represents more than just a bump in the road.
- We see a strong labor market and extreme imbalances have largely been resolved.
- Things are returning more to the pre-pandemic situation.
- We expect the unemployment rate to rise.
*This is not investment advice.
