Powell's Fugetaboutit Speech

Fed Chair Jerome Powell did pivot on Friday morning at Jackson Hole in his 8-minute speech on the outlook for monetary policy. He turned much more hawkish than the financial markets expected. In his short talk, he managed to walk back any hint of dovishness he might have conveyed during his previous public appearance in a press conference on July 27.

Back then, his often ambiguous off-the-cuff responses to reporters led investors to think that the FOMC might raise the federal funds rate by 50bps rather than 75bps at the committee's next meeting on September 21, and then pause for a while.  Back then, Powell suggested that the Fed had a path to lower inflation without causing a recession.