January 29, 2025
Statement·Presser·Minutes·Policy
Jerome H. Powell
January 29, 2025 FOMC Press Conference
- The Chair said the economy is "strong overall" and has made "significant progress" toward the Fed's goals over the past two years.
- He stated that payroll job gains averaged 170,000 per month over the past three months and that the unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent in December.
- He provided specific inflation figures, saying total PCE prices rose 2.6 percent over the 12 months ending in December and core PCE prices rose 2.8 percent.
- He noted that policy is "meaningfully less restrictive" than before the Fed began cutting rates, having been reduced by 100 basis points over the previous three meetings.
- He said the Fed is "not on any preset course" and that if the labor market weakens unexpectedly or inflation falls more quickly, the Fed can ease policy accordingly.
From the opening statement
Press conference
CHAIR POWELL. Good afternoon. My colleagues and I remain squarely focused on achieving our dual-mandate goals of maximum employment and stable prices for the benefit of the American people. The economy is strong—is strong overall and has made significant progress toward our goals over the past two years. Labor market conditions have cooled from their formerly overheated state and remain solid. Inflation has moved much closer to our 2 percent longer-run goal, though it remains somewhat elevated.
In support of our goals, today the Federal Open Market Committee decided to leave our policy interest rate unchanged and to continue to reduce our securities holdings. I’ll have more to say about monetary policy after briefly reviewing economic developments.
Recent indicators suggest that economic activity has continued to expand at a solid pace. For 2024 as a whole, GDP looks to have risen above 2 percent, bolstered by resilient consumer spending. Investment in equipment and intangibles appears to have slowed in the fourth quarter but was strong for the year overall. Following weakness in the middle of last year, activity in the housing sector seems to have stabilized.