Powell's Words Are Mightier Than the Fed's Dot Plot
The central bank's projections for fewer interest rate cuts delivered on some of the hawkish hype, but the chair’s dovish tone carried more weight for markets.
Stealing the show.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North AmericaThe Federal Reserve’s dot plot was supposed to be the main event at Wednesday’s central bank data dump, and — true to expectations — it revealed an upward drift in policymakers’ interest rate expectations over the medium and longer-term. But the market’s interest in “the dots” lasted all of 45 minutes, and ultimately it was Fed Chair Jerome Powell who stole the show by downplaying recent inflation data and suggesting that the encouraging disinflation story remains intact.
Here is Powell’s response to the Wall Street Journal’s Nick Timiraos following the Fed’s widely expected decision to keep rates steady at 5.25%-5.5%.