Fed Chair Powell Just Made His First Comments on Trump's Tariffs. Here's the Hidden Message for Investors.
Did the central banker just tell investors to buckle up?
For years now, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has been trying to guide the economy to a "soft landing." After inflation spiked in 2022 following pandemic stimulus and supply chain crunches, the central bank raised interest rates to bring inflation down. It's mostly done so, as inflation has fallen to under 3%, close to the Fed's goal of 2%, without causing a recession.
The second part of that process was lowering the benchmark federal funds rate back to the neutral rate, which the central bank estimated to be around 2.5%. The Fed began doing that in September, but those efforts seem to have stalled as consumer sentiment has weakened and inflation has remained stubborn.
Now, with the economy at a crossroads after President Donald Trump kicked off a trade war with his tariff announcement on April 2, investors are keen to hear from Fed Chair Powell, who spoke today in his first public remarks since the global tariffs were announced.
