US Fed ‘grappling’ with need for rate cut: Jerome Powell

America’s grinding trade wars are darkening the economic horizon and could help justify a decrease in interest rates, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday. Powell also insisted the central bank was “insulated” from political pressures despite President Donald Trump’s persistent criticism of the Fed chairman.

The speech in New York amplified the Fed’s recent message that policymakers are ready to step in to protect the world’s largest economy, which next week will mark its longest expansion on record but is showing increasing signs of strain. Markets overwhelmingly expect the Fed to cut rates next month as Trump’s trade battles drag on and the global economy slows -- both factors that have begun to dent business confidence and investment in the United States.

But Powell was careful to temper this message, warning that the central bank would not “overreact” to individual data points and short-term swings in sentiment that could quickly evaporate. “The question my colleagues and I are grappling with is whether these uncertainties will continue to weigh on the outlook and thus call for additional policy accommodation,” Powell said in prepared remarks.

Wall Street reacted negatively to Powell’s remarks and to others on Tuesday from James Bullard, president of the Fed’s St Louis regional branch, who told Bloomberg a cut of 50 basis points would be excessive. The Fed last week held steady on interest rates for the fourth time this year. And with US unemployment near historic lows and inflation forecast to rise only slowly, the outlook remained generally “favorable,” Powell said.