Key Points
Federal Reserve officials will likely reduce their benchmark interest rate later this year, Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday, despite recent reports showing that the U.S. economy is still strong and that U.S. inflation picked up in January and February..
The recent data do not ... materially change the overall picture," Powell said in a speech at Stanford University, which continues to be one of solid growth, a strong but rebalancing labor market, and inflation moving down toward 2 percent on a sometimes bumpy path.".
Most Fed officials see it as likely to be appropriate" to start cutting their key rate at some point this year," he added..
The Feds November meeting will take place Nov. 6-7, immediately after Election Day. . Former President Donald Trump has called Powell political" for considering rate cuts that Trump has said could benefit Biden and other Democrats..
In his speech Wednesday, Powell noted that Congress intended the Fed to be fully independent of politics, with officials serving long terms that dont coincide with elections..
