Market Briefing: Markets fly as Powell saves Christmas
The dollar is down sharply after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell sounded a less hawkish tone in his last public speaking engagement before the central bank’s December 13-14 meeting. At times, Mr. Powell sounded positively Grinch-like, warning that a “sustained period of below-trend growth” would be necessary to bring inflation down. He noted signs of moderating price pressures in the October consumer price report, but said it would take “substantially more evidence to give comfort that inflation is actually declining”. “I will simply say that we have more ground to cover,” he said. “History cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy....