Did US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell threaten to raise the fees?
Powell continued to argue that following the Fed’s decision on Wednesday to stabilize interest rates, the president’s tariff policy continued to insist that there was a risk of inflation igniting it.
“The increase in tariffs is driving prices up,” Powell said. “The short-term measure of inflation expectations has risen.”
“You can say,” continued Powell, “The Fed is looking at inflation by not hiking (prices).”
The market was not kind to the comments. Bitcoin (BTC) prices quickly fell to nearly 2% to $115,800, with major US stock indexes moving from about 0.5% to 0.5% losses.
The altcoin massacre deteriorated, with Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL) and XRP (XRP) each slipping by nearly 4%.
The Fed previously stabilized the Fed fund’s range at 4.25%-4.5%, keeping it in line with market expectations. However, there were two opponents from the rate vote, with governors Waller and Bowman supporting a 25 basis point rate cut.
Putting pressure from President Trump and the two Fed members to ease the policy, Powell made no indication from his stance that he would sway at least at a steady speed.
