No, Jerome Powell Isn’t Playing Politics
The Federal Reserve has demonstrated that it is relying on data to make interest-rate decisions.
Policy, not politics.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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Investors’ hopes for rate cuts this year have faded. The past quarter’s economic data showed that the inflation battle is not over; whether the Fed eases now depends on the data, a point Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve have repeated ad nauseam. Then came last week’s nonfarm payrolls data for April, it was cooler than expected, and that was enough to re-establish hopes that cuts are back on the table — although investors still don’t expect the first cut until November, according to the Bloomberg World Interest Rate Probability function.