Jerome Powell speech: Financial vulnerabilities seen as ‘moderate’

Jerome Powell, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, is now responding to questions from the press, with key quotes (via Reuters) found below.

• No one knows what the natural unemployment rate is.
• Financial vulnerabilities seen as ‘moderate.’
• Possible that Fed may need to introduce countercyclical capital buffer.
• It's really important that expectations remain anchored at 2 percent.
• There is no sense in fed models that inflation will move significantly higher if unemployment rate falls further.

Key notes

FOMC raises the target for Fed funds rate by 25bp to 1.75-2.00%.

Following its 2-day meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee announced that it would hike the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to the target range of 1.75% - 2% in a widely expected decision. 

Gold turns negative as Fed signals two more rate hikes.

The US Dollar gained momentum across the board after the release of the FOMC statement. Gold dropped from $1,297/oz to $1,293.50 approaching daily lows. The move lower was boosted by a stronger greenback.

About Jerome Powell (via Federalreserve.gov)

Jerome H. Powell took office as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on February 5, 2018, for a four-year term. Mr. Powell also serves as Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, the System's principal monetary policymaking body. Mr. Powell has served as a member of the Board of Governors since taking office on May 25, 2012, to fill an unexpired term. He was reappointed to the Board and sworn in on June 16, 2014, for a term ending January 31, 2028.