Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell tried to walk a fine line Wednesday in the first of two days of congressional testimony between explaining why the central bank paused its interest rate hikes while also acknowledging that inflation is far higher than it desires.
The Fed put a hold on its aggressive campaign of raising interest rates for what would have been the 11th straight time, saying it wanted to digest the effects of a series of hikes that have lifted borrowing costs by 5% since March 2022. At the same time, more than half the members of the Federal Open Market Committee said they expected to have to raise rates two more times this year.
This post originally appeared at U.S. News & World Report.