Powell Excerpt: Data Not Leading Us In Either Direction

     WASHINGTON (MN) - The following is a response of Federal Reserve Chairman

Jerome Powell to a question from a reporter at his press conference following

Wednesday's Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Question: I counted five downgrades in the first paragraph of the FOMC

statement. What conditions do you need to see in order for a rate cut or rate

hike on the other side of that then?

Powell: I think we wanted to be careful to go ahead and acknowledge the things,

it's relatively little hard data so far this year but we were careful to point

out lower retail sales, the weak November meeting, BFI, all those things, and

that was the right thing to do.  Notwithstanding that, we have a positive

outlook for the year for the reasons I  mentioned, solid underlying economic

fundamentals, etcetera.  In terms of what it would take, I'd say again today we

don't see any, don't see data coming in that suggest that we should move in

either direction.  They suggest that we should remain patient and let the

situation clarify itself over time. When the time comes, we will act

appropriately.

--MNI Washington Bureau; +1 (973) 494-2611; email: harrison.clarke@marketnews.com

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