Fed's Powell sees US cuts in 2024 but inflation progress a risk
In this morning's Congressional testimony "Powell clearly warned markets against expecting an imminent pivot to rate cuts, following in many of his colleague's footsteps in saying that the Fed will need "greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably to 2%" before beginning to ease. He did acknowledge that it will likely be appropriate to begin dialing back policy restraint at some point this year," but also noted that price risks - as embodied in January’s hotter-than-expected data - could mean that "ongoing progress toward our 2% inflation objective is not assured", says Corpay chief market strategist Karl Schamotta: "Odds on an upward move in the "dot plot" summary of economic projections at the Fed’s late-March meeting are firming somewhat, but Powell broadly failed to "outhawk" markets and the dollar is holding steady relative to its major rivals."