Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell explains the decision to cut the policy rate, federal funds rate, by 25 basis points to the range of 4.25%-4.5% after the December meeting and responds to questions in the post-meeting press conference.
Key quotes
"We do think labor market is still cooling, watching it closely."
"Labor market is not cooling in a way that raises concerns."
"We are in a new phase in the process."
"We are still meaningfully restrictive, closer to neutral, appropriate to move cautiously."
"We've done a lot to support economic activity."
"From now we are in a place where we need to see progress on inflation."
"We moved quickly to get to here, going forward we will move slower."
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