by Jennifer Schonberger
Yahoo! Finance
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday the central bank will “wait for greater clarity” before considering any interest rate adjustments as he expects President Trump’s tariffs to generate “higher inflation and slower growth.”
Those twin developments, he acknowledged during a Chicago speech, could create a major dilemma for the Fed — which is obligated to keep prices stable while also maximizing employment.
“We may find ourselves in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension,” he said.
During a question-and-answer session that followed his speech, he admitted there is a “strong likelihood” that the economy will be moving away from both of the Fed’s goals for the “balance of the year, or at least not making much progress.”