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Federal reserve chairman Jay Powell played concerns about US growth following U turns from Donald Trump’s administration, disappointing job numbers and a week shocked in financial markets.
Powell on Friday said the world’s largest economy remained “in good condition” despite the “uncertainty” raised, after the president launched an aggressive agenda of tariffs and spending cuts.
“We are focused on separating the signal from the noise while the prospect evolves,” Powell said, adding that the Fed was not in “hurry” to lower interest rates and “well positioned to wait for greater clarity”.
Powell’s comments came while the Blue-Chip S&P 500 ended the week below 3.1 percent, its worst running since the beginning of September. US shares have withdrawn significantly in recent weeks after gloomy economic reports fueled concerns that Trump’s tariffs will slow down.
Corporate executives warned chaotic pillars in trade policy, including a major upheaval this week in administration plans to charged goods from Canada and Mexico, made it difficult to run their businesses, and could stimulate fresh investment in the US
SH.BA is “at a crossroads, economically,” said Charles Lemonides, Chief of Investment in Valueworks, a New York -based defensive fund. “We do not know where politics is going and this creates great unrest.”
The Bureau of Work Statistics on Friday issued data showing that the US created 151,000 jobs in February, staging 160,000 forecast by economists surveyed by Reuters.
The unemployment rate was 4.1 percent last month, compared to expectations that would keep 4 percent stable.
“The feeling of the investors was euphoric after the election, but there was a lot of cold water thrown into that euphoria last month,” said Jim Tierney, head of the American -based growth fund at Alliancebernstein.
“Powell is saying everything is okay, but this is not what the consumer’s feeling is saying and it is not where we heard the feeling of business, nor,” he added.
The Fed Chairman had recently signaled that the Central Bank would maintain its main interest rate in its current interval between 4.25 percent and 4.5 percent after assessing the impact of Trump’s policies.
But markets are increasingly betting that the Fed will be forced to lower the most aggressive rates this year than thought, the treasure crawling gives lower and weighs in the dollar.
The US dollar index, which traces Greenback force against the other six coins, has lost 4.3 percent this year.
Asked what would encourage the Fed to respond to the tariffs imposed on US imports, Powell said Friday: “What would really matter is what is happening with long -term inflation expectations and how persistent the inflationary effects are.”
Some economists have warned of Trump’s spending cuts and reducing federal workforce through the so -called “Government Efficiency Department”, led by billionaire Elon Musk, may also be a delay in the economy.
Earlier during the week, Trump rotated some of the fees he set in Canada and Mexico in an effort to calm markets. On Friday, he acknowledged that some economic pain could come from his policies and their ever chaotic participation.
“There may be a concern, a little concerns,” the president said, repeating a line from his speech at Congress on Tuesday evening. “There will always be changes and adjustments.”
