Why Dropping ‘Accommodative’ May Not Signal Much From the Fed
- Powell says change suggests no coming shift in monetary policy
- Interest-rate projections remain steady in Fed’s ‘dot-plot’
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Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday dropped their long-standing description of the central bank’s monetary policy as “accommodative.” Jerome Powell, the central bank’s chairman, then quickly threw cold water on the idea that the change was meaningful.
“This change does not signal any change in the likely path of policy,” Powell said in the press conference after the Federal Open Market Committee wrapped up its latest two-day meeting. “We still expect, as our statement says, further gradual increases in the target range for the fed funds rate.”