Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had a clear message on Wednesday: as "gratifying" as it is that inflation has begun to slow, the central bank is nowhere near to reversing course or declaring victory.
"It's going to take some time" for disinflation to spread through the economy, Powell said in a news conference following the Fed's latest quarter-point interest rate increase. He said he expects a couple more rate hikes still to go, and, "given our outlook, I just I don't see us cutting rates this year."
Investors ignored him, keeping bets on just one more rate hike ahead and piling further into bets that rates will be lower by year's end than they are now.
