After Rate Cut Powell Says Jobs Market No Longer Very Solid
Federal Reserve officials lowered their benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point and penciled in two more reductions this year following months of intense pressure from the White House to slash borrowing costs.
Chair Jerome Powell pointed to growing signs of weakness in the labor market to explain why officials decided it was time to cut rates after holding them steady since December amid concerns over tariff-driven inflation.
“Labor demand has softened, and the recent pace of job creation appears to be running below the break-even rate needed to hold the unemployment rate constant,” Powell told reporters in his post-meeting press conference. He added, “I can no longer say” the labor market is “very solid.”
The decision comes at an extraordinary moment for the Fed. President Donald Trump, who has demanded drastic rate reductions and sought to exert more control over the US central bank, continued his legal battle this week to remove one official from the Fed board and install his own top economic adviser ahead of the highly anticipated gathering.
Fed Governor Lisa Cook and newly-sworn-in Governor Stephen Miran, who is on a temporary leave from his role as chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, both attended the meeting.
The Federal Open Market Committee voted 11-1 on Wednesday to cut the target range for the federal funds rate to 4%-4.25%, after holding rates steady for five straight meetings this year.
Miran was the only official to dissent, preferring a larger, half-point cut.
Powell also signaled ongoing concern over inflation pressures resulting from tariffs. “Our obligation is to ensure that a one-time increase in the price level does not become an ongoing inflation problem,” he said.
Looking ahead at the outlook for additional rate moves, Powell was cautious, saying the Fed was now in a “meeting-by-meeting situation.”
In their post-meeting statement, policymakers acknowledged that inflation has “moved up and remains somewhat elevated,” but also pointed to worries over jobs. Officials said the unemployment rate had “edged up,” and the “downside risks to employment have risen.”
The US dollar erased losses as Powell began speaking and described Wednesday’s decision as “a risk-management cut.” Treasury yields rose, led by the five-year yield up 6 basis points to 3.65%.
Follow the reaction in real time on Bloomberg’s TOPLive blog
The cut was widely expected amid signs the central bank’s concerns are shifting toward employment and away from inflation, following a sharp slowdown in hiring over the last several months.
Policymakers also updated their economic projections at this meeting and now see two additional quarter-point cuts this year. That’s one more than projected in June. They foresee one quarter-point cut in 2026 and one in 2027.
One Fed official projected the policy rate would drop by another one and a quarter percentage point by December.
In their economic forecast, policymakers slightly upgraded their median outlook for growth in 2026. They also forecast modestly higher inflation next year.
Source: Bloomberg.com
