MNI TRANSCRIPT: Powell on Committee Perspectives

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

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's press conference after the FOMC meeting

Wednesday:

     Q: Nick Tamaros of the Wall Street Journal.  I know you try to speak for

the committee when you do these conferences, the committee is divided right now

about the outlook and appropriate policy path.  Some people think you need to

wait and see the labor market and the consumer crack or weaken further before

acting more aggressively, and some people think by the time that happens, you'll

need to do even more aggressive action to arrest a downturn.  Where do you stand

on this?  

     A: Let me just say, on the general point of diverse perspectives, you're

right.  Sometimes -- there've been many of those times in my eight years at The

Fed, it's relatively easy to reach anonymity.  This is a time of difficult

judgements.  As you can see, disparate perspectives.  I see nothing other than

healthy to have diverse perspectives. 

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

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