As noted by Powell, the economy is now"moving closer" to the point where reducing the current policy rate would be appropriate."In that we will be data dependent, but not data point dependent," he added.
For now, the central banks is carefully monitoring potential signs of weakness in the labor market."The total scope of the data suggest a normalizing labor market. We are carefully watching to see that continues to be the case," he said. Powell did not rule out that there could be several rate cuts this year, but he also cautioned that the Fed might end up holding the rates steady throughout the year.
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