美聯儲主席 遠未達到緩解通脹的目標 持續加息

美聯儲主席：遠未達到緩解通脹的目標 將持續加息

2023-02-02 05:09:40

每經AI快訊，當地時間2月1日，美聯儲主席鮑威爾在美聯儲宣布加息25個基點後召開新聞發布會，表示雖然目前的數據顯示，美國的通脹有所緩解，但是還遠未達到目標，美聯儲仍將持續加息，堅定地致力於降低通脹。

鮑威爾表示，目前所看到的通脹緊縮並未以犧牲勞動力市場為代價，但是美國的經濟形勢仍處於緩解通脹的“早期階段”，“工作尚未完全完成”，美聯儲也尚未采取“足夠嚴格的政策立場”。鮑威爾在回答記者問題時同時表示，聯邦基金利率“肯定有可能”保持在5%以下，但不要指望2023年會降息。

鮑威爾稱，他有信心通脹率能夠回落至2%，且不會出現嚴重的經濟衰退，也不會導致失業率顯著增加。（央視新聞）

Fed Chair Powell sees progress on inflation, though not quickly enough

https://apnews.com/article/interest-rates-inflation-federal-reserve-economy-f6318be5023f6e50afc115778c9ec174

WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation may be cooling — just not yet fast enough for the Federal Reserve.

Chair Jerome Powell offered a nuanced view Wednesday of how the Fed intends to address its core challenge at a time when inflation is both way below its peak but still well above the central bank’s 2% target: Give it more time, and maybe some help from additional interest rate hikes.

Yet on a hopeful note, Powell also suggested that the trends that are needed to further slow inflation, from lower apartment rents to slower-growing wages, are starting to click into place.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following a Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Wednesday, June 14, 2023, at the Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

BY CHRISTOPHER RUGABER   June 13, 2023

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As a result, the Fed decided Wednesday to forgo another increase in its benchmark interest rate, leaving it at about 5.1%. The pause followed 10 straight hikes in 15 months — the fastest series of increases in four decades.

By leaving rates alone, at least for now, Powell and other top Fed officials hope to use the extra time to more fully assess how higher borrowing rates have affected inflation and the economy. They also want to see whether the collapse of three large banks this spring will weigh on lending and growth.

 

In a surprisingly hawkish signal, the Fed's policymakers issued projections Wednesday showing they envision as many as two additional quarter-point rate hikes before the year ends. (In Fed parlance, “hawks” generally favor higher rates to quell inflation, while “doves” typically advocate lower rates to aid a healthy job market.) Before this week’s policy meeting, Fed watchers had expected the policymakers to signal just one more rate increase this year.

 

In their new projections, the members of the Fed's interest-rate committee were less divided than many economists had expected, with 12 of the 18 policymakers foreseeing at least two more quarter-point rate increases. Four favored one quarter-point hike. Only two envisioned keeping rates unchanged. The policymakers also predicted that their benchmark rate will stay higher for longer than they envisioned three months ago.

 

Powell noted that wage growth has slowed and cited some signs that the job market is cooling. Those factors, he added, should reduce inflationary pressures.

 

"I would almost say that the conditions that we need to see in place to get inflation down are coming into place," Powell said. "But the process of that actually working on inflation is going to take some time.”

 

Inflation dropped to 4% in May compared with a year earlier, down sharply from a 9.1% peak last June. And many economists expect it to decline further. Rental costs are falling, and used car prices, which spiked in April and May, are also likely to drop.

 

Yet Powell underscored that the Fed will need to feel confident that inflation is moving steadily closer to its 2% target.

 

“We're two and a quarter years into this, and forecasters, including Fed forecasters, have consistently thought that inflation was about to turn down ... and been wrong,” he said. “We want to get inflation down to 2%, and we just don't see that yet.”

 

At the same time, Powell stopped short of saying the Fed’s policymakers have committed to resuming their hikes when they next meet in late July. At one point in the news conference, he referred to Wednesday's decision as a “skip,” which would imply that the Fed planned to raise rates at the July meeting.

 

He then corrected himself: “I shouldn’t call it a skip,” he said.

 

But Powell emphasized that the Fed wants to move more slowly after its breakneck pace last year, when it carried out four straight three-quarter-point hikes, followed by a half-point increase and then three quarter-point hikes this year.

 

The Fed's aggressive streak of rate hikes, which have made mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and business borrowing costlier, have been intended to slow spending and defeat the worst bout of inflation in four decades. Average credit card rates have surpassed 20% to a record high.

 

“Given how far we have come, it may make sense for rates to move higher but at a more moderate pace,” he said. “It’s just the idea that we're trying to get this right.”