MNI TRANSCRIPT: Powell: Fed Not Thinking About Raising Rates

     WASHINGTON (MNI) - The following is the portion of a transcript from

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's press conference on Wednesday:

     Q: I think I understand how the fed might react in the event things come

out worse than expected. I don't understand how you might react if things are

better than expected, kind of a variant on the other questions. How fast is the

commitment to lower interest rates, and things end up better, do you stick with

the low interest rates as you projected them, or is it specific what you have in

mind, for example, unemployment or inflation that is animating where you might

go? What are the numbers you're looking for that might cause you to change it

out, the policy as it now is?

     A: I would say, you know, we just had a period of unemployment, as you

know, that was in the -- well below 4%, hanging around 3.5% that lasted two

years. During that period of time a lot of great things happening in the labor

market that we'd love to get back to. We didn't see any problems with price

inflation. It didn't react much. I would say we look to get inflation back up be

prepared to tolerate pretty low and welcome very low readings on unemployment

based on what we saw in the last expansion. So, you know, we're not thinking

about raising rates or thinking about thinking about raising rates. What we

think about is providing support for this economy. We do think it will take some

time. I think most forecasters believe that. It would be great if we got a whole

bunch more months of job create like that notwithstanding that, as I mentioned,

there are a lot of people unemployed and seems likely there will be a

significant group at the end of -- even after a lot of strong job growth that is

struggling to find jobs and will still provide strong accommodations for that.

--MNI Washington Bureau; +1 202 371 2121; email: ryan.hauser@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: MMUFE$,M$U$$$]