Federal Reserve's official announcements and meeting minutes

Fed Chair Powell Signals Growing Confidence with 50 BPS Rate Cut, Neutral Stance Ahead

Sep 30, 2024, 05:57 PM

In remarks at the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) 2024 conference, Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell expressed growing confidence in the central bank's ability to achieve a soft landing for the economy. He announced a 50 basis points rate cut, reflecting confidence that policy recalibration can maintain labor market strength and guide inflation towards the 2% target. Powell emphasized that future policy moves would depend on economic conditions and be decided on a meeting-by-meeting basis, with risks being two-sided. He noted that the U.S. economy is in solid shape and that disinflation has been broad-based, with recent data indicating further progress toward sustained 2% inflation. Powell also stated that the labor market is roughly in balance and does not require further cooling to achieve the inflation goal. If the economy evolves as expected, policy will move over time toward a more neutral stance.