Why Powell’s Jackson Hole Speech Suggests a US Interest Rate Cut is On the Way
“The shifting balance of risks may warrant” a policy change, the US Fed chair says.
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s eagerly awaited speech at the central bank’s annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday has analysts saying an interest rate cut looks very likely in September. While he noted that tariffs are putting upward pressure on inflation, the balance of risks appears to have shifted toward a weakening economy.
“With policy in restrictive territory, the baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance,” Powell said. “Inflation had moved much closer to our objective, and the labor market had cooled from its formerly overheated state. Upside risks to inflation had diminished.”
