Inflation Target, Interest Rate Rise

Jerome Powell Speech: US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the FOMC wanted to send the disinflation stage message, although the process is in the early stages. He said the Fed thought about rising rate hikes to keep the inflation on check. When asked if the FOMC would he have raised by 25 basis points if they knew about the data from jobs report, he said the Fed’s stance was that the rate hikes were appropriate. Powell said the target of bringing down inflation to 2% will remain, and that 2023 could see significant reduction in inflation.

He said the process is likely to take quite a bit of time. He added that the Fed would certainly raise rates more if data continues to come in stronger than expected. The markets are showing a positive reaction to the Fed Chair’s comments, with the S&P 500 Index going up by 0.65%. Whereas the Bitcoin price is up by 0.50% in an immediate reaction.

The crypto market reacted positively with a rally to the Fed Chair’s comments. As of writing Bitcoin (BTC) price stands at $23,284, up by 1% in the last one hour, according to CoinGape price tracker.

Market Anticipation

Jerome Powell spoke in an interview with Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein at the Economic Club of Washington DC on Tuesday. In the context of the Federal Reserve’s recent policy decisions on interest rate hikes and its goal of controlling inflation, Powell’s comments were closely looked at by the market. Traders were not only looking for the Fed’s outlook for next few months, they were also weighing in on the unprecedented job market growth as reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics last week.

With the total nonfarm payroll employment rising by 517,000 in January, the unemployment rate in the US stood at a low of 3.40%. This is in fact the lowest unemployment rate in the country in around 54 years. In his post FOMC press conference on February 1, the Fed Chair said the committee is committed to bring back inflation to the 2% target.

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In the lead up to the Powell speech today, the crypto market showed little signs of volatility as the Bitcoin (BTC) price remained largely unchanged in the last 24 hours. For most part of Tuesday, the BTC price remained fluctuating around the $22,950 level in anticipation of the Fed Chair’s comments.

Anvesh reports major developments around crypto adoption and trading opportunities. Having been associated with the industry since 2016, he is now a strong advocate of decentralized technologies. Anvesh is currently based in India. Follow Anvesh on Twitter at @BitcoinReddy and reach out to him at [email protected]

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