<span>STORY: :: Fed chairman Jerome Powell said a rate hike is off the table but unlikely for now</span><span>:: March 18, 2026</span><span>“As in the last meeting, the possibility that our next move could be an increase was brought up in the meeting. The majority of participants do not see this as the basic scenario. And of course, we do not take some things off the table.”</span><span>//</span><span>REPORTER: “Is the interest rate forecast unchanged because you think the oil shock will be temporary, or because you want to be sure of your position in case growth starts to slow?”</span><span>POWELL: “The point I really want to make is that no one knows. You know, the economic impact could be bigger, it could be smaller, it could be much smaller or much larger. We just don’t know. So people are writing something that makes sense to them but they have no faith in, you know? What you mean is, if it’s high, you know, if we have much higher gas prices over a long period of time, it’s going to put pressure on consumption, now it’s going to put pressure and weigh on disposable personal income. But we don’t know if that’s going to happen. It’s going to be much lower than expected.” We can have the transition.” // </span><span>“We also think it’s important to keep policy slightly restrictive or, you know, close to that, but not too restrictive because of the weakness in the downside risk in the labor market. We’re balancing those two objectives in a situation where the risks to the labor market are to the downside, which will require lower rates, and inflation risks are to the upside, which will not require higher rates or a rate cut. So we’re in a difficult situation, and we think our framework calls for us. We feel like where we’re at right now is to balance the risks, which is kind of over the line, “We think the dividing line between restrictive and non-restrictive is higher.”</span><span>Commenting on the Fed’s Summary of Economic Projections released alongside the Fed meeting results, Powell said: “This is one of those SEPs that a lot of people are talking about, if we were to skip a SEP that would be a good one because we don’t know what’s going to happen given the uncertainties around the war.”</span>
