The Federal Reserve Is Trying to Catch Up with Falling Inflation
On Wall Street, happy days are here again, and Jay Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, is the toast of the market. On Wednesday and Thursday, stock prices surged after Powell and his colleagues indicated that they are likely to cut a key interest rate three times next year. Market interest rates, which are tied to the Fed’s actions, fell sharply in anticipation of the central bank’s policy pivot becoming a reality.Just a couple of weeks ago, Powell, who has spent the past two years trying to bring down inflation, said that it was too early to consider interest-rate cuts. But, in a press conference on Wednesday, following a gathering of Fed policymakers, he said, “That’s really what happened in today’s meeting.” A set of new projections showed that Fed officials now expect the federa...
