Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he saw early signs that progress was being achieved, however slight, in the fight against the worst inflation the nation has endured in four decades.
The U.S. economy shrank from April through June for a second straight quarter, contracting at a 0.9% annual pace and raising fears that the nation may be approaching a recession.Jerome Powell delivered a tough message at the start of a news conference Wednesday: Inflation is way too high, and the Federal Reserve is laser-focused on taming it with higher borrowing costs.
Powell's suggestion that the Fed could moderate its future rate hikes after it announced a three-quarter-point hike Wednesday - its second in a row of that substantial size - helped touch off a celebratory rally in the stock market, with the S Here are five takeaways from the Fed's interest-rate setting policy meeting and Powell news conference:A slew of recent data has signaled the economy is weakening. Economists are increasingly forecasting a recession for later this year or in 2023. Powell, though, pointed Wednesday to the robust labor market as evidence the economy isn't in recession, at least not yet.
Powell also noted that the government's estimate of quarterly GDP is often significantly revised later and that the initial reports on economic growth should be taken with "a grain of salt."
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