Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell explains the decision to leave the policy rate, federal funds rate, unchanged at the range of 5.25%-5.5% and responds to questions in the post-meeting press conference.

Key takeaways

"Path ahead is going to depend on the economy."

"I can imagine a scenario of zero cuts to several cuts this year, depending on how the economy evolves."

"Data in labor market shows gradual normalization."

"We are back to closer to even focus on two mandates."

"We don't think of labor market as it is currently as a likely source of inflation pressures."

"That's why I don't want to see excess cooling in the labor market."

"We have made real progress on inflation, growing confidence on a path to 2%."

"If we see something that looks like a significant downturn in labor market, we would respond