Fed Chair Powell speaks at Jackson Hole

In what may be his most upbeat speech in months, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell signaled it is likely appropriate to begin cutting interest rates. This according to prepared testimony released at the Kansas City Fed’s Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

“The time has come for policy to adjust, the direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data. The evolving outlook and the balance of risks” he said.

The Dow and the S&P 500 closed just shy of record highs,
while the Nasdaq Composite powered ahead by over 1%. Investors celebrated a confirmation by Fed Chair Jerome Powell who said “the time has come” and the first rate is in the pipeline since policymakers began their aggressive rate hiking campaign in the spring of 2002.

All three of the major U.S. benchmarks closed with weekly gains.

Federal Reserve
Bank of Chicago President Austin Goolsbee, who has worked under the Obama Administration, talks about the path to the rate cycle that Chairman Powell confirmed Friday and what could potentially upend that.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled the time is right to cut interest rates. The benchmark gained over 500 points, before giving back some of those gains.

Intel, Goldman Sachs and Dow Chemical led the gains, while P&G, Walmart and Merck, the more defensive names, trailed.

The Nasdaq Composite based the rally in U.S. stocks after Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled the “time has come” to begin cutting interest rates.

Nvidia, Apple, Amazon helped pace the gains in the tech-heavy benchmark.

If the Federal Reserve begins its easing cycle in September, as many market participants expect, that could push mortgage rates, which have been slipping, even lower. The average rate for a 30-year fixed is under 7%.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has much riding on his Friday speech from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He the chance to silence critics who think the Fed dropped the ball when they passed on the chance to cut interest rates last month.

Turns out the monthly jobs numbers, the ones economists and Wall Street depend so heavily on to determine the
health of the U.S. economy and employment, are not as rosy as we thought.