When Jerome Powell was appointed as chairman of the United States’ central bank, the Federal Reserve, in 2018, the American press gave him a less-than-flattering nickname: “Mr. Ordinary.” Seven years later, Powell is now in the final stretch of his tenure at the helm of the central bank, having steered the US economy through the consequences of a global pandemic, an inflation crisis and a trade war. All while becoming the arch-rival of the most powerful man in the world, Donald Trump.
Yet over and above all these unprecedented challenges, Powell, known in Washington by his nickname “Jay,” is now about to lead the institution through one of the most tense periods in his chairmanship. The Federal Reserve is set to hold a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee – the body that sets the central bank’s key interest rates, its main monetary policy tool – on September 16 and September 17. The financial markets have predicted a rate cut, down from their current levels, which are between 4.25% and 4.5%. Trump had long demanded this measure, to boost an economy threatened by recession, while Powell has, so far, taken a more cautious line, preferring to wait and assess the effects of the US-led trade war, so as not to fuel inflation, which has already started to pick up again since the summer.
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