Fed Chair Powell: There isn't a painless way to do this 🤕

The Fed is not a friend of the economy or stock market right now 😖

Fed Chair Jerome Powell at a news conference following an FOMC meeting at the headquarters of the Federal Reserve on September 21, 2022. (Getty)

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday reiterated the central bank’s commitment to bring down inflation using monetary policy tools, even if its efforts come with “pain” in the economy.

“My colleagues and I are strongly committed to bringing inflation back down to our 2% goal,“ he said in prepared remarks. “Over the coming months, we will be looking for compelling evidence that inflation is moving down, consistent with inflation returning to 2%.“

There isn’t a painless way to do this 😭

Powell’s statement came after the central bank announced its third-consecutive 75 basis point interest rate hike. (The Fed made hikes of the same magnitude in June and July.)

At the top of his Q&A with reporters, Powell made clear: “My main message has not changed at all since Jackson Hole.“

In case you missed it, Powell at Jackson Hole said very bluntly that the fight to bring down inflation would “bring some pain to households and businesses.”

“We have got to get inflation behind us,” he said on Wednesday. “I wish there were a painless way to do that. There isn't.”

“We have to get supply and demand back into alignment,” he added. “The way we do that is by slowing the economy.”

Powell expressed confidence in the work he and his colleagues were doing, saying: “The path that we actually execute will be enough. It will be enough to restore price stability."

The Fed is not the stock market’s friend 📉