Stock Market Surges After Jerome Powell Indicates Rate Cuts May Be Coming

The stock market surged Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled openness to the central banks cutting rates soon.

Powell suggested during a Friday morning speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium that the central bank could potentially lower its target range soon, stating that the “balance of risks appears to be shifting.” Following Powell’s speech, the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared by 903 points, or 2%, marking an all-time high, CNBC reported.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 gained 1.6% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed nearly 2%, according to CNBC.

Powell said during his Friday speech that the central bank’s “framework calls for us to balance both sides of our dual mandate.”

“In the near term, risks to inflation are tilted to the upside, and risks to employment to the downside—a challenging situation,” Powell said.

“Nonetheless, with policy in restrictive territory, the baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance,” the Fed chairman added. “[Federal Open Market Committee] FOMC members will make these decisions, based solely on their assessment of the data and its implications for the economic outlook and the balance of risks.”

President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized Powell over not lowering interest rates during the Fed’s past several meetings. Trump said Tuesday in a post to Truth Social that “there is no inflation, and every sign is pointing to a major rate cut.”

“Could somebody please inform Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell that he is hurting the Housing Industry, very badly?” Trump wrote in the post. “People can’t get a Mortgage because of him.”

“‘Too Late’ is a disaster!” Trump added, in reference to Powell.