Fed’s Powell repeats there is time to deliberate over rate cuts

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated on Wednesday that the U.S. central bank has time to deliberate over its first interest rate cut given the strength of the economy and recent high inflation readings. "Recent readings on both job gains and inflation have come in higher than expected," Powell said in remarks prepared for delivery at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. "Given the strength of the economy and progress on inflation so far, we have time to let the incoming data guide our decisions on policy," Powell said, with decisions made "meeting by meeting."