Since the Federal Reserve started raising interest rates in its battle against inflation 18 months ago, the US central bank has made one thing clear: all policy options must be kept on the table at all times.
From jumbo interest rate rises — it has implemented several — to the repeated warnings that they could remain elevated for an extended period, chair Jay Powell has refused to rule out anything that will enable the Fed to get a grip on price pressures that have proven far more persistent than most economists and policymakers ever expected.
He toed that line on Wednesday, after the central bank’s latest decision to hold its benchmark federal funds rate at a 22-year high of between 5.25 per cent and 5.5 per cent, for the second gathering in succession. Powell used a press conference afterwards to stress that additional rate rises would very much remain an option if the economic conditions warranted it.