🚨🚨Jerome Powell – Part 4
No Cuts, No Clarity: The Fed Holds the Line
On May 7, 2025, Jerome Powell made it crystal clear: the Federal Reserve sees no justification for a rate cut right now. Not in May. Not unless the data forces its hand.
Speaking with his usual calm, Powell emphasized that interest rates will remain at current levels (4.50%) — and the bar for reducing them remains high. Here’s what stood out:
• “There’s no basis for a rate cut at this time.”
• “Last year we cut rates due to rising unemployment — this year is different.”
• “We can’t say how much joblessness is tolerable. We watch both inflation and labor data.”
• “Trade negotiations could change the outlook — or not.”
• “Fluctuations in GDP alone don’t change our stance.”
Translation: The Fed is unmoved by political noise, GDP volatility, or market impatience. Only sustained macro deterioration — in labor, inflation, or both — will trigger a shift in policy.
Markets still want to believe in a July rate cut. Powell’s tone? Cold, calculated, and data-anchored.
To the #AMAGE community:
Is this discipline — or denial?
And what will it take for the Fed to finally blink?