Jerome Powell, Press Conference: May FOMC Post Meeting Press Conference Transcript

“Against the backdrop of the rapidly evolving economic environment, our policy has been adapting, and it will continue to do so. At today’s meeting, the Committee raised the target range for the federal funds rate by ½ percentage point and stated that it “anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate.” We also decided to begin the process of reducing the size of our balance sheet, which will play an important role in firming the stance of monetary policy. We are on a path to move our policy rate expeditiously to more normal levels. Assuming that economic and financial conditions evolve in line with expectations, there is a broad sense on the Committee that additional 50-basis-point increases should be on the table at the next couple of meetings. We will make our decisions meeting by meeting as we learn from incoming data and the evolving outlook for the economy. And we will continue to communicate our thinking as clearly as possible. Our overarching focus is using our tools to bring inflation back down to our 2 percent goal.”