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The US Federal Reserve feels comfortable with the current policy and is expected to keep interest rates stable for a long time, said Wednesday President Jerome Powell.
"We think our political stance is appropriate at the moment.We do not see any strong arguments to go both ways," Powell said at a press conference after the central bank meeting on this week's monetary policy.
In a move that met market expectations, the Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to keep the benchmark rate in the range of 2.25% to 2.5%.
President Donald Trump has exerted unusual pressure on the public to lower the Fed's rates, suggesting Tuesday a 1 percentage point cut.
Without directly responding to Trump's criticism, Powell said that in the absence of a significant change in conditions, the current policy would prevail.
The president cited low inflation as one of the main reasons for the Fed's spending cuts. However, Mr Powell said he expects inflation close to the 2% target set by the central bank.
"If we saw inflation constantly stay below [the goal]it's a matter of concern to the committee, something we would take into account when developing the policy, "said Powell in response to a question from CNBC's Steve Liesman.
The Fed's preferred inflation indicator indicated a 1.6% gain over 12 months in March. Powell acknowledged that reading was below expectations, but he described as "transient" the pressures that drove down inflation and that are likely to recover as the reading gets closer to home. goal of the Fed.
In addition to the index of personal consumption expenditure, inflation was about 2%. The Dallas Fed's adjusted average PCE indicator and the consumer price index both rose 2% in March.A flawless stay
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