Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks at the 2024 Business, Government & Society Forum at the Stanford Graduate School of Business in Stanford, Calif., April 3, 2024.The hot economy casts doubt over interest rate cuts, likely delaying their widely anticipated start this summer and possibly removing them entirely from the Fed's calendar this year, some economists told ABC News, while acknowledging that multiple rate cuts remain within the realm of possibility.
"Given the strength of the economy and progress on inflation so far, we have time to let the incoming data guide our decisions on policy," Powell added.Interest rate cuts would lower borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, potentially triggering a burst of economic activity through greater household spending and company investment.
"At this point, a June rate cut seems to be out of the picture," Yeva Nersisyan, a professor of economics at Franklin & Marshall College, told ABC News. "The Fed is signaling that it doesn't want to lower rates."