Powell's farewell?
4/29/202626 min
Wednesday marked Jerome Powell’s final FOMC meeting as chair of the Federal Reserve. Central bank leaders held rates steady this week, though with the most dissenting votes in over 30 years. Powell also announced his intent to stay on as a Fed governor — the first chair to do so since 1948. In this episode, we recap Powell’s tenure as head of the Fed and unpack his latest press conference. Plus: Companies issue more corporate debt, Taco Bell outperforms sales expectations, and AI spawns new cybersecurity headaches.
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsKai Ryssdal· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Fed Chair Emeritus. Is that a thing? From American Public Media, this is Marketplace. [upbeat music] In Los Angeles, I'm Kai Ryssdal. It is Wednesday today, 29 April. Good as always to have you along, everybody. Jay Powell wrapped up his last press conference as Fed chair this afternoon. Eight long years, 64 press conferences, so much water under the economic bridge. So we are gonna start with a recap.
Speaker 10:41
[singing] Previously on Federal Open Market Committee press conferences.
Jerome Powell· Soundbite0:45
I have a, uh, a brief statement, and then I'll be happy to respond to your questions.
Speaker 10:49
In 2018, President Trump appointed then Fed Governor Jerome Powell to replace Janet Yellen as chair, and Powell gave his first ever FOMC press conference.
Jerome Powell· Soundbite0:58
The job market remains strong. The economy continues to expand.
Speaker 11:01
Aw, memories. But there were tariffs, political pressure from President Trump to lower interest rates, and then March 2020. Powell gave an emergency press conference as the Fed acted to stabilize the pandemic economy.
Jerome Powell· Soundbite1:15
We're really going to use our tools to do what we need to do here, which is restore these important markets to normal function.
Speaker 11:23
FOMC meetings were on Zoom for a while. The economy rebounded, and then inflation picked up.