Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said three U.S. inflation readings in the second quarter of this year "add some confidence" that the pace of price growth is steadily returning to the Fed's target. This suggests that interest rate cuts may not be far off, Reuters reports.
"We actually made progress in the second quarter in the fight against inflation." We've got three better inflation readings, and the average of them gives a pretty good result," he said during an appearance at the Economic Club of Washington.
"We have said that we will not ease policy until we are sure that inflation will return to 2 percent permanently. We didn't get that confidence in the first quarter, but three readings in the second quarter, including the most recent one last week, give us confidence," Jerome Powell said.
The head of the Fed also added that he does not foresee major economic turmoil or recession in the United States.
Jerome Powell's words will likely be his last before a press conference after the meeting of representatives of the American Central Bank on July 30-31.