Following its two-day policy meeting, the central bank’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee said it will keep its benchmark overnight borrowing rate in a range between 5.25%-5.5%.
Along with the decision, Fed officials penciled in three quarter-percentage point cuts by the end of 2024, which would be the first reductions since the early days of the Covid pandemic in March 2020.
Some key quotations from Powell's speech:
"We are prepared to keep rates high longer if needed."
"My instinct is rates won't go back down to very low levels we saw before."
"The pandemic has had lasting effects on the economy."
"Economy has made considerable progress, inflation has eased substantially."
"We're likely to cut rates at some point this year, but the outlook is uncertain and we remain attentive to risks."
"It is still likely in most people's view that we will have rate cuts this year, but it depends on the data."
"Our policy rate is likely at its peak."
