Powell speech: Economic downturn not the most likely case

Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve System (Fed) and Christine Lagarde, European Central Bank (ECB) President, speak alongside Bank of England Governor (BoE) Andrew Bailey and Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda at a policy panel at the 2023 ECB Forum on Central Banking.

Key takeaways

Ueda: "Still some distance to go in sustainably achieving 2% inflation accompanied by sufficient wage growth."

Ueda: "Economy is going to expand slightly above potential for some time."

Bailey: "Brexit is not part of a strong labor market story."

Lagarde: "We are not seeing enough tangible evidence of falling underlying inflation."

Lagarde: "Second quarter was not great for manufacturing."

"Lagarde: "Manufacturing does not give great hope for a strong recovery."

Powell: "There is significant disinflation in pipeline from rents but it will take time."

Powell: "We need to see more softening in labour market."

Powell: "We're getting the softening we need but slower than expected."

Powell: "Significant probability is we get a downturn but it's not the most likely case."