Powell: A rate cut is appropriate at some point this year

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell gave the message in his speech to the US House of Representatives that the Fed will not rush to cut interest rates. In his expected speech, US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated that officials will not rush to cut interest rates until they are convinced that they are winning the fight against inflation. In his speech to the US House of Representatives, Fed Chairman Powell included messages that it would probably be appropriate to start cutting interest rates "at some point this year" but that they are not ready to do so yet. Powell said in his speech to the House Financial Services Committee, "The Committee does not believe it would be appropriate to reduce the target range until we have greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent." Powell repeated the rhetoric he used in his last press conference on January 31 and said in his prepared speech, "We believe that our policy rate is probably at the peak for this tightening cycle. If the economy develops as expected overall, it will probably be appropriate to start to withdraw policy restraint at some point this year. However, the economic outlook is uncertain and there is no guarantee that progress will continue toward our 2 percent inflation target."