MNI TRANSCRIPT: Powell on Necessary Reserves

     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: Do you think you underestimated the amount of reserves necessary for the

back end system?

     A: We always said that it's -- the level is uncertain. Right? And... that's

something we tried to be very clear about. And... as you know, we've invested

lots of time talking to many of the large holders of reserves to assess their --

what they say is their demand for reserves. We tried to assess what that is, we

tried to combine it all together, we put it out so the public can react to it,

but... yes, there's real uncertainty. It's possible that we'll need to resume

the organic growth of the balance sheet, earlier than we thought. That's always

been a possibility and certainly is now. Again... we'll be looking at this

carefully in coming days and... taking it up at the next meeting.

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

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