Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to speak at the Council on Foreign Relations. I will begin with a progress report on the broad public review my Federal Reserve colleagues and I are conducting of the strategy, tools, and communication practices we use to achieve the objectives Congress has assigned to us by law—maximum employment and price stability, or the dual mandate. Then I will discuss the outlook for the U.S. economy and monetary policy. I look forward to the discussion that will follow. During our public review, we are seeking perspectives from people across the nation, and we are doing so through open public ... (full story)

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stressed the central bank’s independence in a speech Tuesday that comes amid continuous pressure from the White House to cut interest rates. He spoke during a event at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York that investors were watching closely for clues about the direction of monetary policy. “The Fed is insulated from short-term political pressures — what is often referred to as our ‘independence,’” Powell said in prepared remarks. “Congress chose to insulate the Fed this way because it had seen the damage that often arises when policy bends to short-term political ... (full story)