JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming, Aug 23 - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell made it clear on Friday the U.S. central bank would not shy away from pivoting to interest rate cuts in the final weeks of a presidential election campaign and that protecting the job market was now its top priority.
The remarks tee up a first rate cut at the Fed's Sept. 17-18 meeting, a move that Trump, who was highly critical of Powell despite having picked him for the top Fed job, and some Republican lawmakers have warned would be seen as a partisan effort to juice the economy ahead of the voting. Back then, the Fed's chief, Arthur Burns, embarked on a short easing cycle beginning just four weeks ahead of an election featuring a race between Republican President Gerald Ford and Democratic challenger Jimmy Carter. Ford lost.Congress has charged the Fed with maintaining the highest level of employment consistent with stable inflation, and with the unemployment rate having risen nearly a percentage point - from 3.4% to 4.3% - over the past year, Powell said the Fed had seen enough.
It was a significant shift in tone from Powell's comments as inflation surged in 2021 and 2022. The Fed began raising its benchmark policy rate in March 2022 to what would be the highest level in a quarter of a century, and at the Jackson Hole forum two years ago he warned that workers and families would feel"pain" in the form of rising joblessness and higher credit costs.
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