Economics
Fed’s Powell More Worried by Cool Economy Than Hot Markets
- Chair signals Fed to stay ultra-easy with Covid war not won
- Powell deflects questions on markets, says focus is economy
Jerome Powell
Photographer: Al Drago/The New York Times/Bloomberg
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Declaring that the battle against Covid-19 is not over, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell pledged to keep the monetary spigots wide open to aid the pandemic-hit economy, brushing aside concerns the super-easy stance will spawn a stock market bubble and too-high inflation.
“We have not won this yet,” he told a press conference on Wednesday, after the Fed voted to keep short-term interest rates pegged near zero. “We’re a long way from a full recovery.”