Powell characterized the Fed's third mission as a derivative of the other two

Responding to a question about the statutory requirement for central banks to achieve "moderate long-term interest rates" at a press conference after the rate decision on Wednesday, Federal Reserve President Jerome Powell explained why the three mandates given to the Fed by Congress boil down in practice to two broad mandates. Central bankers have long positioned their mandates as twofold, with monetary policy focused on keeping inflation low and stable and ensuring that the jobs market remains strong, with little emphasis on the third. Mr. Powell told reporters that the third mandate was real, but that central bankers saw it as a derivative of the law's two more widely known objectives. "We believe that moderate long-term interest rates are the result of low and stable inflation and maximum employment," he said. For some time, Fed officials did not believe that the third task required "independent action."