China News Agency, New York, March 21 (Reporter Wang Fan) Powell, the interim chairman of the US Federal Reserve, said in Washington on the 21st that if necessary, the Fed will take a more aggressive action of raising interest rates by more than 25 basis points in a single time to make the Prices returned to stability.

　　On the same day, Powell delivered a speech at the annual meeting of the National Association of Business Economics, saying that the current U.S. labor market is "very strong", but the inflation outlook "has deteriorated significantly", and the degree and duration of inflation has soared far beyond our consensus.

At last week's regular monetary policy meeting, the Fed has already raised its median forecast for the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index at the end of 2022 by 1.7 percentage points to 4.3%.

　　Powell said the Fed will take necessary steps to ensure price stability returns.

“If we conclude that a more aggressive move to raise the federal funds rate range by more than 25 basis points is appropriate at one or more regular monetary policy meetings, we will do so. to a level above neutral and a tighter monetary policy stance, and we will do the same.”

　　Regarding the impact of the situation in Ukraine on the U.S. economy, Powell said that it could have a significant impact on the world economy, leading to wild fluctuations in commodity prices, potentially increasing U.S. supply chains and inflationary pressures.

The Fed assesses the risks posed by such events.

　　Powell pointed out that in the current context, no one would think that achieving a "soft landing" of the economy is easy, and monetary policy is often considered a "blunt instrument" that cannot achieve surgical precision.

This is an extremely challenging task, and the entire Fed staff will do everything in their power to succeed.

He expects the Fed's monetary policy to bring U.S. inflation back to around 2 percent within the next three years.

　　U.S. stocks fell across the board after Powell's speech.

As of the close of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 34552.99 points, down 201.94 points, or 0.58%; the Nasdaq Composite Index was at 13838.46 points, down 55.38 points, or 0.4%; the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index was at 4461.18 points, down 1.94 point, or 0.04%.

　　The Wall Street Journal quoted analysts as saying that Powell's tough tone showed his determination to curb inflation.

The message investors received was, "He had us prepare for the worst."

After the regular monetary policy meeting in January this year, Powell had said that U.S. inflation would ease as supply chain bottlenecks improved. This time he said that idea had been "broken" and that the Fed may need to act faster, including preparing A single rate hike of 50 basis points.

　　Last week, the Fed kicked off its first rate hike in more than three years, raising the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to between 0.25% and 0.5%.

Fed officials also forecast that each of the remaining six regular monetary policy meetings this year could result in a 25 basis point rate hike.

However, the latest data shows that the market sees a 50% chance that the Fed will raise rates by 50 basis points in May.

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