Powell: Fed Rates Are in a "Good Place" to Ignore Iran-Related Oil Shocks, But Watch Inflation Expectations

Powell stated it's too early to determine the economic impact of the Iran conflict; energy price shocks are often short-lived, and monetary policy transmission is too slow to counteract supply-side price pressures in real-time, so the usual approach is to ignore such shocks, with the crucial prerequisite being close monitoring of inflation expectations; tariffs have a one-off impact on inflation; reiterated commitment to bringing inflation back to 2%; supported QE, stating broad research suggests long-term asset purchases lower rates; the Fed is closely watching private credit, with no systemic risk seen; large language models can and will replace many automatable jobs, making the current employment environment difficult for young people, but the outlook is optimistic; a message to his successor, Worsh: must avoid using monetary policy tools for other purposes. The "Fed Whisperer" reported: Powell said the Fed can ignore oil price shocks but warned patience has limits