Powell: ‘If The Economy Is Performing as Expected that Would Mean Two More Cuts This Year, with a Total of 50 More’

EXCERPT:

POWELL: "So, a couple things. One, we have two employment reports and an inflation report coming, and so the main thing will be to look, when we get to that meeting, at the totality of the data, and we’ll be looking at the activity data, the unemployment data and the inflation data, and asking ourselves is our policy stance in the place where it needs to be for us to best foster achievement of our goals. And I think we’ll take everything into account. We don’t have that data yet. That’s the main thing. But the other thing is just — I wanted to point out — I kind of just did — that, you know, it’s a committee that will — we will do what it takes in terms of the speed with which we move, but if you look at where we were two weeks ago, coming up on three weeks ago, I guess, when we wrote down our S&Ps and made our decision, it was a situation where people were thinking, you know, the bulk of the committee was at 75 or 100 basis points, and the votes were on 50, and that would mean two more cuts. It wouldn’t mean more 50s. Now, of course, that will depend on the data, but ultimately, that’s what the baseline is. If the economy performs as expected, that would mean two more cuts this year, a total of 50 more."