Tough-Talking Powell Wipes Out $59 Billion From Biggest Fortunes
In the hour-and-a-half after the Fed chair began speaking, the wealth of billionaires from Elon Musk to Steve Ballmer tumbled.
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Before Jerome Powell took the podium on Wednesday, stocks were approaching their highest levels in six weeks, fueling a rebound in the fortunes of some of the world’s richest people after a brutal year.
Just as he did in August during an eight-minute speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, however, the Federal Reserve chair talked tough on inflation, squashing investor hopes of a decisive pivot away from tightening monetary policy and knocking stocks to the lowest in more than a week.