Fed Chair Powell repeats vow to act 'as appropriate', says politics plays no role in interest rate decisions

Record ID: 1430245

  • Title: Fed Chair Powell repeats vow to act 'as appropriate', says politics plays no role in interest rate decisions
  • Date: 6th September 2019
  • Summary: ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (SEPTEMBER 6, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN JEROME POWELL WITH SWISS NATIONAL BANK (SNB) CHAIRMAN, THOMAS JORDAN, AS HE ARRIVES FOR PANEL AT ZURICH UNIVERSITY POWELL PANEL DISCUSSION CAMERAMAN (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN, JEROME POWELL, SAYING: "The global economy has been slowing since the middle of let's say 2018, we see that continuing with China, in Germany and the E.U. (European Union) There are many factors that are driving that, trade policy uncertainty is one of them, but is not the only one, but trade policy uncertainty will be weighing on business investment decisions and that sort of things. So, still, I'll juts wrap up by saying we see the most likely case for the U.S. and for the world too as continued moderate growth, and at the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee), as we move forward, we are going to continue to watch all of these factors and all the geopolitical things that are happening and we are going to continue to act as appropriate to sustain this expansion." POWELL PARTICIPATING IN PANEL DISCUSSION (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN, JEROME POWELL, SAYING: "We would never comment on trade policy, we don't do trade... it's not a responsibility of the Fed (U.S. Federal Reserve) but I think it is the case that uncertainty around trade policy is causing some companies to hold back now on investment and so our obligation is to use our tools to support the economy, and that's what we'll continue to do." PANEL DISCUSSION ONGOING JORDAN AND POWELL IN PANEL (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN, JEROME POWELL, SAYING: "Political factors play absolutely no role in our process, and my colleagues and I would not tolerate any attempt to include them in our decision-making or our discussions, that is not our DNA, our DNA as what I mentioned earlier, we are strongly committed to non-political-decision-making, we serve all Americans regardless of their political party, and it is just simply wrong, the idea that we would deviate from that is just simply wrong." AUDIENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN, JEROME POWELL, SAYING: JOURNALIST ASKING: "This morning again you were mocked by President Trump in a tweet, do you find the constant criticism from the President, does that make your job easier or more difficult? How do you manage to tune this out? "We are completely and totally focused on our jobs. I think, just to understand, I feel like...the FED is a very important American institution, the things we do affect people's lives and we are going to focus on using our tools to do the best job we can, to achieve the goals that Congress has given us under the law, that is all we are going to focus on, we don't get involved in other things like that so that is our entire and total focus." POWELL SHAKING JORDAN'S HANDS AND WALKING AWAY POWELL LEAVING VARIOUS OF ZURICH UNIVERSITY
  • Embargoed: 20th September 2019 21:53
  • Keywords: U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell Donald Trump economic outlook
  • Location: ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
  • City: ZURICH, SWITZERLAND
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: Economic Events
  • Reuters ID: LVA001AVIUJIF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:The U.S. Federal Reserve will continue to act "as appropriate" to sustain the economic expansion in the world's biggest economy, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Friday (September 6) in Zurich, sticking to a phrase that financial markets have read as signalling further interest-rate reductions ahead.
    Powell's careful wording reflects a split within the U.S. central bank about how best to respond to an economy where the job market and consumer spending are strong but rising trade tensions between Beijing and Washington, Britain's possibly messy exit from the European Union, and a broad global slowdown pose risks.
    Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren for instance has made the case for leaving rates where they are until those risks are more tangible in the economic data.
    Others including St. Louis Fed President James Bullard have called for a half-a-percentage point interest-rate cut to get ahead of the trade war risks and bring the Fed's policy rate more in line with market expectations.
    Meanwhile, financial markets are betting Fed policymakers will agree to split the difference and follow their quarter-point rate cut in July with another one later this month.
    Powell said policymakers will be closely watching geopolitical risks, financial conditions, and other incoming economic data as they weigh what to do.
    Trump on Friday kept up his call for the Fed to lower interest rates, saying policymakers were wrong to raise them last year.
    Powell for his part said he wasn't listening to Trump, or to a call from former New York Fed President Bill Dudley for factoring the 2020 presidential election into his rate-setting decisions.
    "Political factors play absolutely no role in our process, and my colleagues and I would not tolerate any attempt to include them in our decision-making or our discussions," he said. "We are going to act as appropriate to sustain the expansion."
    Powell's remarks are the last publicly scheduled comments from a U.S. central banker before the Fed's September meeting.
    (Production: Marina Depetris)
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