, Powell noted that the economy has proved resilient despite Fed hikes and that the job market"remains very tight."
"We will be able to achieve inflation moving down to our target without the significant kind of downturn that results in high levels of job losses," he said."That's been my view, that's still my view." Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs lowered the odds of a recession this year to just 20%. The International Monetary Fund also upgraded its assessment of U.S. economic growth this year to 1.8%, from 1.6% earlier this year. . The nation's unemployment rate is 3.6% — the same level as when the Fed started raising interest rates in March of 2022. The share of working-age people with a job hit a new high last month.
"General labor market resilience, as indicated by initial claims for unemployment easing over the last few weeks, moderating inflation and gently slowing final demand growth offer hope of an economic soft landing," Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY, said in a report. Inflation, which peaked last summer, has slowed to a 3% annual rate, and for the first time in two years Americans' paychecks are