Powell speech: Economy strong without question

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell participates in a discussion at the Macroeconomics and Monetary Policy Conference, in San Francisco.

Key quotes:

Latest core inflation numbers real progress.

We expect inflation to move to 2% on sometimes bumpy path.

If our base case doesn’t happen, we would hold rates where they are for longer.

We don’t know where rates are going to go back to when this whole thing is over.

The economy is not suffering from this level of rates.

Economy strong without question. Possibility of a recession is not elevated now.

If we see unexpected weakness in labor market, that could draw a policy response.

We won’t make decisions based on political calendars or anything like that.

Market reaction

The US Dollar gains modest upward traction with Powell’s hawkish words. Thinned market conditions do to the widespread Easter Holiday limit price action.