Powell speech: No reason to think a downturn is any more likely than usual

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

"The US economy is performing very, very well."

"No reason to think a downturn is any more likely than usual."

"We have to continue to have restrictive policy to get inflation to 2%."

"I'm confident in the story of why inflation has come down, why that portends well."

"Housing inflation has come down steadily."

"Goods inflation has returned to pre-pandemic range overall."

"Story of why inflation should be coming down is still intact."

"Job market is cooler by so many measures now."

"Inflation is still unwinding from large shocks in 2021 and 2022."

"It might take another year or two from here to get to 2%."