Fed’s Powell: Half-point rate increase “on the table” for May meeting

2022.04.21 20:41

FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell looks on as he testifies before a U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 2, 2022. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A half-point interest rate increase will be “on the table” when the Fed meets on May 3-4 to approve the next in what are expected to be a series of rate increases this year, Fed chair Jerome Powell said Thursday.

With inflation running roughly three times the Fed’s 2% target, “it is appropriate to be moving a little more quickly,” Powell said in a discussion of the global economy at the meetings of the International Monetary Fund. “50 basis points will be on the table for the May meeting.”

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