Federal Open Market Committee announces quarter-point rate cut amid shifting economic risks
The Federal Reserve announced a quarter-percentage point reduction in the federal funds rate to 4%-4.25%, citing increased downside risks to employment while inflation remains somewhat elevated. Chair Powell emphasized the shift in risk balance, with unemployment edging up to 4.3% and job creation slowing significantly to 29,000 per month over the past three months.
"While the unemployment rate remains low, it has edged up. Job gains have slowed, and downside risks to employment have risen."
"In support of our goals, and in light of the shift in the balance of risks, today the Federal Open Market Committee decided to lower our policy interest rate by a quarter percentage point."
"The marked slowing in both the supply of and demand for workers is unusual. In this less dynamic and somewhat softer labor market, the downside risks to employment appear to have arisen."
"Policy is not on a preset course. We will continue to determine the appropriate stance of monetary policy based on the incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks."
"We're beginning to see goods prices showing through into higher inflation... Those are not very large effects at this point, and we do expect them to continue to build over the course of the rest of the year and into next year."
"You see people who are sort of more at the margins. So kids coming out of college and younger people, minorities, are having a hard time finding jobs. The overall job finding rate is very, very low."
"It's deeply in our culture to do our work based on the incoming data and never consider anything else. That's just, everybody who's at the Fed really feels strongly about that way."