MNI TRANSCRIPT: Powell on Inflation Expectations

     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: You described the recent slide inflation expectations as unwelcomed. You

said that inflation expectations are very important. What if anything would the

committee be prepared to do to address this slide in inflation expectations if

it continued?

     A: We do think that inflation expectations are quite central in our

framework. We need them to be anchored in a level that's -- at a level that's

consistent with our symmetric 2% inflation goal. And we think that knee weed to

conduct policy in a way that supports that outcome. That's what we are doing

now. We are also as part of our review looking at potential innovations changes

to the way we think about things, changes to framework that would lead us to --

that would be more supportive of achieving inflation on a 2% symmetric 2% basis

over time. That's at the very heart of what we are doing. We haven't made them

the decisions yet. But we are in the middle of thinking about ways that we can

make that symmetric 2% inflation objective more credible but achieving symmetric

2% inflation. It comes down to using your policy tools to achieve 2% inflation

and that's -- that's the thing that must happen for creditability in that area.

We are in the middle of it now but my thinking is are run in to the middle of

next year. Inflation targeting took years. We will wrap it up around the middle

of next year. I have some confidence in that

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

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