While announcing a 0.25% interest rate cut on Thursday, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell made it clear that the outcome of the presidential election will not affect the US central bank 's monetary policy actions. Powell announced the quarter-percent interest rate cut that, along with Donald Trump's election victory , has sent stock markets soaring.
When asked about how the volatility of various financial markets and how Trump's win will effect the Fed, Powell spoke candidly. "Let me say in the near term, the Fed -- the election have no effects on our policy decisions," Powell said in a live broadcast on C-SPAN . "Here, we don't know what the timing and substance of any policy changes will be.
"As you know, many things affect the economy and anyone who writes down forecasts in their job will tell you the economy is quite difficult to forecast looking past the very near term." Powell said the Federal Reserve's two goals for monetary policy are "maximum employment and stable prices." He added that the latest rate cut was made with those goals in mind.
"We remain committed to supporting maximum employment bringing inflation sustainably to our 2% goal and keeping longer-term inflation expectations well anchored," he said. "Today, the FOMC decided to take another step in reducing the degree of policy restraint by lowering our policy interest rate by a 0.25 point.
" He said the Fed is "confident" in the "recalibration" efforts for the nation's monetary policy actions. "Strength in.