Federal Reserve megaphone: Powell reserves the option of cutting interest rates

Fed chairperson Jerome Powell has signalled the central bank is paying more attention to when to cut interest rates now that inflation has resumed falling and the labour market is showing signs of cooling, Nick Timiraos said. "High inflation is not the only risk we face," Mr. Powell said in a speech to the Senate banking committee on Tuesday morning. Mr. Powell said the economy had made "considerable progress" in reducing inflation and that the job market looked as "strong but not overheated" as it did before the epidemic. But he made little change to his expectations of when the central bank might start cutting rates. "We continue to decide on a meeting-by-meeting basis," he said.