Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell (Photo: Bloomberg)
In response to questions, Powell also signaled a willingness to include changes to the Fed's gradual run-off of its balance-sheet in any review of monetary policy.
Trump has criticized the Fed chief for raising rates, and Bloomberg News reported Dec. 21 that the president had discussed firing Powell. The Fed chairman, responding to a question about what he would do if Trump asked him to step down, said he would not resign.
Fed watchers have said that the bar is very high for the president to remove Powell "for cause" as the law appears to require, provided Powell decides to fight the dismissal in court.
Mixed Data
Powell and his colleagues at the U.S. central bank are weighing conflicting signals on the U.S. economy as they try to ensure that the Fed achieves its congressional mandate of low, stable inflation and full employment over the long term.
Markets have gyrated in recent months and manufacturing gauges have slowed as weakening global growth and a trade spat between the U.S. and China deepen uncertainty.
Consumer sentiment indexes have also begun weakening, and housing figures showed deceleration throughout much of 2018.
Despite that gloomy backdrop, the Fed has been close to achieving its inflation goal of 2 percent. Price gains hovered right around there for much of 2018, though the Fed's preferred index has dipped to 1.8 percent in November.
The Fed is also below its estimates of full employment. U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased by 312,000 in December, easily topping all forecasts.
Average hourly earnings advanced 3.2 percent from a year earlier, matching the fastest pace since 2009. And the jobless rate rose from a five-decade low to 3.9 percent, reflecting more people actively seeking work.
"We have unemployment remaining below 4 percent for nine months now, one of the longest periods since the mid-1960s," Powell said.
