Roughly two weeks before the Federal Reserve wrapped up December’s meeting on monetary policy, Jay Powell sent a clear message to US lawmakers and market participants that change was afoot.
“You’ve seen our policy adapt, and you’ll see it continue to adapt,” the Fed chair told members of the Senate banking committee on the final day of November.
On Wednesday the scope and scale of that adaptation was crystallised, with the US central bank announcing that it would more speedily withdraw its pandemic-era stimulus programme. At a time of surging inflation and a recovering labour market, the move would give the Fed more flexibility to raise US interest rates early next year.