Following the Federal Reserve's decision to keep interest rates unchanged, Chairman Kevin Warsh is speaking live and answering press questions.
Below you will find the most important details from Warsh's statements:
- The discussion took place in a friendly atmosphere.
- The economy has demonstrated impressive resilience.
- The Committee refrains from making forecasts.
- The Committee is committed to ensuring price stability.
- There is no flexible inflation target.
- Our sole objective is the 2% inflation level.
- High inflation over the past five years has created a notable and difficult-to-resolve situation; the Fed's unofficial target appears to be above 2%.
- The inflation problem cannot be solved in nine weeks.
- The lowering of forecast figures may have already impacted market trends.
- We will not hesitate to act when necessary and appropriate.
- Market participants have learned to cooperate, not act as arbiters.
- Investments in artificial intelligence form the basis for future growth.
- The Federal Reserve has entered into a heated discussion on four issues. First, high inflation over the past five years; second, assessing recent economic shocks; third, price increases caused by these shocks; and fourth, discussing monetary policy tools and strategies.
- We are monitoring the rise in bond yields and trying to stay away from it.
- Our decision was supported by an overwhelming majority.
- The dissenting votes did not fully reflect the essence of the discussion.
- The June core CPI data is unlikely to have a significant impact on policy decisions.
- In the coming period, we will closely monitor inflation data.
- We have received encouraging inflation data and will closely monitor it over the next few days.
- We have important decisions to make in the coming period.
- Interest rates today are higher than they were 42 days ago.
- I think there is a mistaken belief that raising the inflation target means greater flexibility. We will achieve our 2% inflation target.
- If inflation remains high, interest rates could become part of the solution.
- We place great importance on understanding the underlying dynamics of inflation under shocks and assessing to what extent these shocks exacerbate inflation.
- If you characterize this (today's decision) as keeping interest rates unchanged, financial markets will perceive it completely differently. I would not characterize today's actions as keeping interest rates unchanged.
- It is encouraging that the market reacts to real-time events, not to us or to price change charts.
- Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data is our starting point, and we will continue to rely on it.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted 9-3 to keep the federal funds rate at 3.50-3.75 percent. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, and Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan called for a 25 basis point rate hike to combat inflation.
The Federal Reserve's post-meeting statement indicated that three committee members favored raising the target range for the interest rate by a quarter percentage point. These dissenting votes signaled that support for raising interest rates within the committee was beginning to solidify.
All three committee members argued that a tighter monetary policy was necessary to fight inflation, which has exceeded the Fed's 2% target for over five years. Specifically, Hammack and Logan stated that households are under pressure from persistently high prices, while Kashkari said more decisive measures were needed to ensure price stability.
*This is not investment advice.








