At a press conference at the end of the entity’s two-day meeting and after announcing a reference rate hike of 0.75 percentage points, the head of the Fed indicated that the organization’s Monetary Committee is open “to moderating its rate hikes from the next meeting” in December.
But he added that it is “very premature” to consider a “pause” in the adjustment.
Powell noted that the “final level” of the Fed’s benchmark interest rate could be higher than previously estimated.
The Fed chairman commented that the change of pace could come as soon as the next central bank meeting in December, but also warned that there is still great uncertainty about the level of interest rates and that they could end up being higher than had been estimated in September.
The time to reassess the rate of gains “is coming,” he said.
“It can happen even in the next meeting or the next one,” Powell said. “No decision has been made. We’ll probably have a discussion about it at the next meeting.”
With information from agencies
