Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks Thursday to a monetary policy panel presented by the International Monetary Fund.
The U.S. central bank leader’s remarks follow a Fed decision last week to hold benchmark policy rates at their current level, in a target range between 5.25%-5.5%. However, Powell has cautioned that should inflation persist, he won’t hesitate to push for higher rates.
Other global central banks have been following the Fed’s lead, indicating lately that they consider inflation too high but are conscious of the risks in pushing policy too hard. The U.S. economy has grown strongly despite a series of 11 rate hikes since March 2022.
Markets largely expect that the Fed is done. The probability of a hike at the Federal Open Market Committee’s December meeting is less than 10%, according to market pricing gauged by the CME Group. In fact, markets expect the Fed to start cutting in 2024, possibly as soon as June.
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