At his press conference on May 1 following the April–May meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell called it “unlikely” that the central bank would raise the short-term interest rates under its control at its next meeting in mid-June. The Federal Funds Rate is currently between 5.25 percent and 5 percent.
At the same time, Mr. Powell told reporters, “clearly, restrictive monetary policy needs more time to do its job” and Fed policymakers “didn’t see progress in the first quarter” against inflation. The Fed’s target is a 2 percent inflation rate—a goal that is a long way off.
