MNI BRIEF: Fed's Powell: Further Rate Hikes Unlikely As Job Market Cools

MNI (WASHINGTON) - U.S. interest rates are likely to fall from here as the labor market has cooled, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday, all but ruling out further rate hikes. 

"It doesn't seem likely that the next policy move would be a rate increase," he told the Senate Banking Committee. "We don't take things like that off the table, but that does not seem the likely direction. The likely direction does seem to be: as we make more progress in inflation, and as a labor market remains strong, we begin to loosen policy at the right moment." 

The labor market "appears to be fully back in balance," he said. The most recent data send "a pretty clear signal that labor market conditions have cooled considerably compared to where they were two years ago." (See: MNI INTERVIEW: Fed Will Stay Patient On Rocky Road To 2%-Evans)