Central Banks
Fed Embraces Gradualism, a Familiar Policy for Uncertain Times
- Slow rate cuts would provide time to gauge economy’s reaction
- Powell also signals his readiness to move more aggressively
Jerome Powell
Photographer: Bloomberg
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With a September interest-rate cut all but certain and attention turning to the pace of future reductions, Federal Reserve officials are coalescing around a gradual approach to the last mile of their inflation fight.
A handful of policymakers at the Fed’s annual research symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, last week made the case for lowering rates in a “gradual” or “methodical” manner. That pushed back against investor expectations for at least one outsized cut this fall.