US Fed Chair Jerome Powell Calls Rate Cut Speculation 'Premature'

It is still "premature" to speculate on when the US Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates despite the bank's recent progress on inflation, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Friday.

The US Federal Reserve has taken aggressive action to tackle runaway inflation, and has successfully slowed the rate at which prices have been increasing this year.

Nevertheless, the Fed's decision to lift its benchmark lending rate to a 22-year high and hold it there has so far failed to bring inflation down to its long-run target of two percent.