Central Banks

Powell Pushes Back on Rate-Cut Bets, But Markets Push Back Harder

  • Chair says policy is ‘well into restrictive territory’
  • Central bank is prepared to tighten further if needed

Jerome Powell 

Photographer: Ting Shen/Bloomberg
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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell attempted to push back against investors’ growing expectations of interest-rate cuts in the first half of 2024.

Wall Street responded by doubling downBloomberg Terminal on Friday, despite Powell’s warning that “it would be premature to conclude with confidence that we have achieved a sufficiently restrictive stance, or to speculate on when policy might ease.”