Stocks turn lower
The major averages turned lower following Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference.
Investors seemed to have turned their attention to Powell’s comment that the rate-setting committee has “a view that inflation is going to come down not so quickly.”
“It will take some time, and in that world, if that forecast is broadly right, it would not be appropriate to cut rates and we won’t cut rates,” he said.
As of 3:45 p.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 245 points, the Nasdaq was lower by about 0.3% and the S&P 500 was down 0.5%.
–Darla Mercado
The run on SVB was ‘out of keeping’ with history, Fed Chair Powell says
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the run on Silicon Valley Bank was historically unprecedented, and will need to be addressed by regulators in the future.
“The run on Silicon Valley Bank was out of keeping with the speed of runs through history. And that now needs to be reflected in some way in regulation and in supervision,” Powell said.
“I’m not aware of anybody thinking that this could happen quite so quickly. … It will be up to Vice Chair [Michael S.] Barr to really take the lead in designing the ways to address them,” he added.
— Sarah Min
Powell says it may be too soon to cut rates
If Federal Reserve members are correct, it may take some time for rate cuts to seem plausible, said Chair Jerome Powell.
“We on the committee have a view that inflation is going to come down not so quickly,” he said. “It will take some time, and in that world, if that forecast is broadly right, it would not be appropriate to cut rates and we won’t cut rates.”
He added that demand and labor market conditions will likely need to weaken some more to see progress within non-housing services and deem rate cuts “appropriate.”
— Samantha Subin
Cooling labor market points to possibility of avoiding recession, Powell says
The initial signs of weakness in the labor market suggest that the path to a “soft landing” for the U.S. economy is not off the…
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