Last night, Old Powell's message was very clear: the inflation situation is grim, and the Fed cannot take any action right now. Don't even talk about lowering interest rates in May, and don't rush to discuss 'when to cut rates'; just don't think about it. To summarize his recent style in one sentence — neither hawkish nor dovish, firmly standing in the middle, doing nothing.

Old Powell is actually a 'master of managing expectations.' Seeing that inflation expectations have risen again due to tariff increases, his professional standards do not allow him to play dumb. There’s also an important background to remember: he is actually quite unhappy with Trump’s style of casually interfering with the Fed and immediately imposing tariffs. What he is guarding now is not just the policy line, but also his position in history, after all, anyone doing this job wants to leave some 'I was so stable back in the day' evaluations.