Finance & economics | Down from the mountain

Jerome Powell (almost) declares victory over inflation

The Federal Reserve chairman strikes a notably doveish tone

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell heads into the opening dinner at the Kansas City Fed’s annual economic symposium in
Photograph: Reuters
|Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Washington, DC

For economists and investors accustomed to staring at charts, the jagged peaks of the Teton mountains possess more than a passing resemblance to financial trend lines. They also form the backdrop to one of the year’s most keenly awaited central-bank speeches: annual reflections by the chair of the Federal Reserve at a conference hall in Jackson Hole, located in the valley below the Teton range. On August 23rd Jerome Powell did not disappoint. He made clear that having raised interest rates as sharply as any of the slopes in the distance, the central bank was now ready to begin the descent.

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